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Game and Macaroni Pie
Put a quarter of a pound of pipe macaroni into a saucepan of boiling stock, and let it simmer till it is tender, but unbroken. Drain, and lay it at the bottom of a deep dish, and on it place a layer of game (either partridges, pheasants, or grouse), cut into neat joints, and stewed until they are three-parts cooked. A few slices of raw, lean ham should be put amongst the game, together with a few chopped mushrooms. Season with pepper and salt. Place a layer of macaroni on the top, grate over it a little Parmesan cheese, and put little lumps of butter here and there. Pour some good gravy, mixed with cream or new milk, over the whole; cover with a good crust, and bake in a moderate oven. Before serving, add a little more boiling gravy, and milk if required. Time to bake, about one hour. Sufficient, a pie made with one large or three small birds, and a quarter of a pound of macaroni, for six persons. Probable cost, uncertain.
A raised-flavour game pie built in layers rather than a filling stirred together, and the layering is the point. Two things decide whether it works: the birds must go in genuinely underdone, and the macaroni must stay in whole tubes.
- Pipe macaroniNot elbows. Victorian "pipe" macaroni is a straight hollow tube, generally wider than modern macaroni, so ziti, bucatini or a large rigatoni is the closest match. Cook it in stock, not water, as the recipe directs, and pull it while still firm at the centre, since it will spend an hour more in the oven absorbing gravy.
- "Three-parts cooked"Stew the jointed birds until about three-quarters done, which for grouse or partridge legs is 20-30 minutes in stock, less for breast pieces. If they are fully cooked before assembly, the hour under the crust will dry them out entirely.
- A moderate oven350F/175C. If the crust is puff pastry, start at 425F/220C for the first 15 minutes to set and lift it, then drop to 350F for the remainder.
- The birdsOne large bird means a pheasant; three small ones means partridge or grouse. A 4-5 lb chicken or a pair of guinea fowl stands in acceptably, though the flavour is milder and you will want the ham and mushrooms to carry more of the weight.
- Raw lean hamUnsmoked gammon, or prosciutto cut thick, sliced into strips. It is there for salt and fat, so hold back on the seasoning until you know how salty the ham is.
- The gravyWell-reduced game or brown stock, loosened with cream or whole milk ("new milk" is simply fresh, unskimmed milk). Do not fill the dish to the brim; the pie is topped up after baking, and an overfull dish will boil up and lift the crust off.
- Topping upCut a small vent in the crust before it goes in the oven, and use it to pour in the additional boiling gravy just before serving. Cold liquid at this stage will chill the pie through; it must be at a simmer.
- CrustA short crust lid handles the wet filling better than puff, which tends to go soggy underneath. Rest the pastry on the rim of the dish rather than on the filling.
- YieldSix, as stated, served with nothing more than a green vegetable. The macaroni makes this a good deal more filling than a plain game pie.
Cassell's belongs to the era when macaroni had settled firmly into British cooking as a substitute for the pastry or forcemeat that would otherwise pad out a pie. Dried pasta keeps indefinitely, and cookery writers of the period used it freely with Parmesan. The game element points to the shooting season: partridge from September, pheasant from October, grouse from the twelfth of August, and a household with birds hanging in the larder needed ways to stretch a brace across a table. The closing note, "Probable cost, uncertain," is a house formula used where a price could not be fixed.