Chicken Pie
Cut up two young chickens, place in hot water enough to cover, (as it boils away add more so as to have enough for the pie and for gravy to serve with it), boil until tender; line the sides of a four or six quart pan with a rich baking-powder or soda-biscuit dough quarter of an inch thick, put in part of the chicken, season with salt, pepper and butter, lay in a few thin strips or squares of dough, add the rest of chicken and season as before; some add five or six fresh eggs or a few new potatoes in their season, season liquor in which the chickens were boiled, with butter, salt and pepper, add a part of it to the pie, cover with crust a quarter of an inch thick, with a hole in the center the size of a tea-cup. Keep adding the chicken-liquor as needed, since the fault of most chicken pies is that they are too dry. There can scarcely be too much gravy. Bake one hour in a moderate oven. To make a gravy, add to the liquor left in pot (if not enough add hot water) a table-spoon of butter mixed to a paste with flour, and seasoned with pepper and salt. This should be stirred, a little at a time, into the liquor; let boil up once and serve.