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Cream, Apple Pie
Make an apple pie in the usual way. When it is sufficiently cooked, take it out or the oven, cut out the pastry from the middle, and, when cold, pour a pint of good custard in its place. Put some ornaments of puff paste on the cover. Any kind of firm fruit may be sent to table in the same way.
This is a finishing method rather than a full recipe: it assumes you already have a covered apple pie and a jug of custard. The whole thing hinges on temperature — the pie must be completely cold before the custard goes in.
- The hinge: let it coolCustard poured into a warm pie will thin out and soak straight into the pastry base. Cut the lid while the pie is hot (easier to lift cleanly), then leave the pie until it is fully at room temperature, and chill the custard separately before assembling.
- What "good custard" means hereMost likely a boiled egg custard, cooked over low heat until it coats a spoon; a common proportion is something like 4 egg yolks and 2 oz sugar to a pint of milk, though the recipe gives none. It still has to pour, since that is what the text says to do with it, but a thicker set will sit better in the cavity. Ready-made thick custard works, though it will be starch-set rather than egg-set.
- A pintCassell's is British, so a pint is 20 fl oz, about 570 ml, or just under 2½ US cups. That is generous for a standard 9-inch pie; start with less and top up so it does not overflow the pastry rim.
- "In the usual way"A covered apple pie, baked until the pastry is coloured and the fruit tender; the book gives no oven setting, so in a modern oven something around 400F for 40-50 minutes. The fruit should be on the dry side — a wet, syrupy filling will bleed into the custard.
- Cutting out the middleScore a circle in the top crust about an inch inside the rim with the point of a small knife and lift the disc out whole. Keep the fruit beneath it intact; you are making a well, not hollowing out the pie.
- The puff paste ornamentsLeaves, rounds or a lattice cut from puff pastry. The recipe puts them 'on the cover', that is on the remaining top crust. They must be baked separately in a hot oven until crisp and laid on just before serving, since by this stage the pie is cold and filled.
- Other firm fruitPears and quinces hold their shape well; damsons and gooseberries are juicier and less reliable. Avoid anything that collapses to a purée or throws a lot of juice, such as very ripe plums or rhubarb.
- ServingA 9-inch pie gives 6 to 8 portions. It must be kept refrigerated once the custard is in, and eaten the same day — the pastry softens quickly under it.
The pairing of apple pie with custard is older than the book by a long way, but here the custard is moved inside the crust and finished with cut puff-paste shapes, borrowing the decorative habit of the confectioner's counter. The closing line — "any kind of firm fruit may be sent to table in the same way" — is characteristic of the dictionary's method, giving the cook a principle to apply rather than a single fixed formula.