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Partridges, Pie Of
Pluck, draw, and singe three young partridges, and divide them into halves, lengthwise. Mince the livers finely, and mix with them a tea-spoonful of chopped parsley, a salt spoonful of salt, half a salt-spoonful of pepper, two table-spoonfuls of bread-crumbs, and as much powdered mace as will cover a threepenny-piece; then put the forcemeat into the birds, and a piece of fresh butter, the size of a walnut, in each half. Butter a shallow pie-dish, and line the edges with a good crust. Lay a slice of lean veal at the bottom, and season lightly with salt, pepper, and powdered mace. Wrap the birds in thin slices of fat bacon, pack them closely, breast downwards, upon the veal, and pour over them a quarter of a pint of good veal stock. Cover the dish with the pastry, ornament it prettily, brush it over with beaten egg, and bake in a moderate oven. This is a savoury dish, suitable either for breakfast, supper, or luncheon. Time to bake, one hour and a half. Probable cost, 6s. 6d. Sufficient for five or six persons.
A raised game pie in the Victorian mould: birds barded, bedded on veal, moistened with a little stock and sealed under pastry. Most of what needs translating is measurement and bird.
- The hinge: liquid, not gravyA quarter of a pint (5 fl oz imperial, about 150 ml) is all the stock the dish takes. The pastry lid traps the steam and the bacon renders down; more liquid boils up, lifts the crust and leaves the pie swimming. Keep to the stated amount.
- Moderate ovenConventionally rendered as about 350F/175C, though the book gives no temperature. At that heat, an hour and a half is realistic for a dish of this depth, though the crust will want protecting with foil once it has coloured.
- Salt-spoon and threepenny-pieceA salt-spoon is usually reckoned at roughly a quarter teaspoon, so the seasoning here is about 1/4 tsp salt and a scant 1/8 tsp pepper. The silver threepenny-piece was a small coin about 1.6 cm across; the mace it would cover is a large pinch, no more than 1/4 teaspoon.
- Getting the birdsGrey and red-legged partridge are sold oven-ready by game dealers in season; birds sold through supermarkets are often reared rather than truly wild and come already drawn, which removes the plucking and singeing. Three partridges give six halves, and the recipe's five or six persons assumes other dishes on the table.
- The liversModern oven-ready birds rarely come with giblets. Ask the dealer to keep the livers, or substitute an equal weight of chicken livers, finely minced, for the forcemeat.
- ShotWild-shot birds carry pellets. Run a finger over the breast and thighs before stuffing, and warn anyone at the table.
- Veal and baconThe slice of lean veal is a moisture-and-flavour base rather than a serving portion; a thin escalope or a piece of pork loin does the same work. "Fat bacon" here means a fatty cut used for barding -- green streaky or plain barding fat is closest in effect, since a strongly smoked modern rasher will dominate the birds.
- The crustA short or rough puff paste suits a shallow dish. Only the edges of the dish are lined, so the pastry base is not an issue; brush with beaten egg and cut a vent, which the original omits.
- Cost and servingSix shillings and sixpence was a substantial sum for a single dish. Serve warm rather than hot, cut in halves so each person gets a stuffed portion, with the veal sliced beneath.
Cassell's places this pie among the dishes fit for breakfast, supper or luncheon, which suggests something of the Victorian upper-middle-class day: a savoury pie of this kind could be served warm or cold at whichever meal it suited. Partridge came into season on 1 September, and 6s 6d was real money. The construction is older than the book, descending from the earlier tradition of the pastry "coffin" in which pastry served first as a cooking vessel and only later as something to eat; the veal slice at the bottom and the bacon wrapping both work to keep lean game from drying in the oven. Mace, used sparingly and measured against a coin, was a common warm spice for potted and baked game in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.