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Podovies, or Beef Patties
Take half a dozen slices of underdone roast beef, with a small portion of fat, shred it finely, and season it with pepper, salt, and a little chopped onion or shallot. Roll out a quarter of a pound of puff-paste very thin. Lay spoonfuls of the mince upon it, an inch apart, and moisten the dough round the meat with a little water. Cover with a piece of pastry. Press together the portion round each little ball of mince, and stamp round out with a cutter. Pinch the edges, and fry the patties in hot fat until they are brightly coloured. Drain them on blotting-paper, and serve piled high on a dish. Time to fry, ten minutes. Sufficient, a dozen for two or three persons.
A leftovers dish: cold roast beef sealed in puff paste and deep-fried. The instructions are sound, with two exceptions worth noting before you start.
- Ten minutes is too longPatties this small, made with meat that is already cooked, need only enough time in the fat to colour the pastry and puff it — roughly three to four minutes at 350-375F, turned once. Ten minutes will darken the crust and dry the mince to sawdust.
- Quarter of a pound of puff-pasteThat is 4 oz of finished pastry, which rolled thin gives you two sheets big enough for a dozen small patties. A single sheet of commercial all-butter puff pastry, halved, is the practical equivalent.
- Underdone roast beefThe whole point is a rare or medium-rare leftover joint, shredded rather than ground, so that it keeps texture and does not overcook in the fryer. Chop it by hand with a knife; a food processor turns it to paste.
- Seal properlyThis is the hinge. Any gap in the crimped edge lets fat in and juice out, and the patty comes apart in the pan. Moisten a narrow band of dough around each mound, press out the air, then cut and pinch, and chill the cut patties for 20 minutes before frying.
- Stamp round out with a cutterA garbled line: cut each mound out with a round cutter, centring the meat, then crimp the rim. Note that mounds set only an inch apart limit how wide a cutter can be, so space them generously if you want a broad rim.
- Blotting-paperVictorian kitchens kept unsized paper for draining fried food. Kitchen paper or a wire rack does the same job; do not use printed paper.
- Fat for fryingThe original assumes beef dripping or lard in a deep pan. Any neutral oil with a high smoke point works, at a depth of about two inches, held at 350-375F so the pastry sets before it soaks.
- YieldA dozen patties for two or three, as the book says. They are best within minutes of draining.
The odd name is sometimes traced to the Russian podovye pirogi — hearth-baked pies — though the derivation is traditional rather than documented. The heading "Podovies, or Beef Patties" appears in Eliza Acton's Modern Cookery (1845), and Cassell's, like much of the late-Victorian compilation trade, carried the receipt forward with the name intact and its origin long forgotten. What it really represents is the Victorian household's instinct for the cold joint: a Sunday roast reappeared on Monday as mince, as hash, as a made dish, and here as a fried patty smart enough to serve to guests. The pastry does the work of disguise, which is why the recipe insists the beef be underdone — the cook is stretching good meat, not rescuing bad.