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Poularde Raised Pie
Make three pounds of good forcemeat. This may be made either with equal parts of fillet of veal and fat bacon freed from skin and gristle, chopped, powdered, and nicely seasoned; or with a pound and a half of fillet of veal, a pound of fresh beef suet, six ounces of panada (see PANADA), and four eggs. Whatever ingredients are used, however, care must be taken to pound them thoroughly, first separately and afterwards together, and to add the seasoning gradually so that the forcemeat may be agreeably flavoured. For ordinary tastes, a quarter of a tea-spoonful of pepper and half a tea-spoonful of nutmeg will be sufficient for this quantity of forcemeat. The amount of salt to be used will depend upon the quality of the bacon. Wash a pound of truffles perfectly clean. Wipe and pare them, then cut them into thin slices. Line a mould or shape a pie large enough to hold the poularde and the forcemeat (see PASTE FOR RAISED PIES). Spread at the bottom of it a layer of forcemeat and some of the slices of truffle. Split a poularde down the back, and take out the bones without injuring the skin. If more convenient, this may be done by the poulterer. Lay it breast downwards upon the board. Season the inside with pepper, salt, and spices, and spread on it a layer of forcemeat half an inch in thickness. Put some slices of truffles on this, and then another layer of forcemeat. Roll the poularde over, make the skin meet at the back, and shape it to fit the mould. Lay it breast uppermost on the forcemeat in the pie. Sprinkle a little pepper and salt over it, lay on it some slices of truffle, and cover with the remainder of the forcemeat. Lay on the top some thin slices of fat bacon, put on the lid, press it down, and pinch the edges together; brush over with egg, and ornament it; make a small hole in the centre with a knife, tie a band of buttered paper round the pie, and bake in a moderate oven. In order to ascertain when it is sufficiently baked, pierce it to the centre with a knife or skewer, and if it is tender throughout it is done. Let it cool for half an hour, then pour into it, through the hole at the top, a quarter of a pint of savoury jelly reduced to gravy. This jelly may be made by stewing the bones and trimmings of the bird and of the meat, seasoning the liquid nicely, and dissolving in it a little isinglass. When quite cold, serve the pie on a napkin, garnish it with parsley, and carve it in slices the breadth of the pie and about the third of an inch thick. If liked, the truffles may be omitted, and slices of veal and bacon used in their place. Time to bake, two hours. Sufficient for a good-sized pie.
A grand cold raised pie of the sort built for a buffet table rather than a dinner plate. Most of the work is in the boning and the forcemeat; the baking is straightforward once the case is up.
- PoulardeA poularde is a young hen fattened for the table, often spayed, and heavier and richer than a spring chicken. A 4-5 lb roasting chicken is the practical modern equivalent; ask the butcher to bone it out whole through the back, as the recipe itself suggests.
- A moderate ovenThe book gives no temperature; 'moderate' is conventionally read as somewhere around 325-350F. Two hours is realistic for a filled raised pie of this size, but go by the skewer test the recipe gives, or take the centre of the forcemeat to 165F.
- Paste for raised piesThe cross-reference is to hot water crust, a stiff dough of flour, lard and boiling water that can be moulded and will stand up on its own. It must be worked while warm; once cold it cracks rather than shapes.
- PanadaA thick paste of breadcrumbs or flour cooked in milk or stock, used to lighten and bind forcemeat. Six ounces is roughly three-quarters of a cup of the finished paste, made stiff enough to hold its shape on a spoon.
- Pounding the forcemeatThe instruction to pound each element separately, then together, matters more than it sounds: it emulsifies the fat with the lean so the farce slices cleanly instead of crumbling. A food processor does this in short bursts, but keep everything cold or the fat will break out.
- A pound of trufflesA far cheaper proposition in the nineteenth century than now, and eye-watering today. The recipe's own alternative, slices of veal and bacon, is the honest substitute; a few tablespoons of chopped mushroom duxelles with a little truffle oil is a modern compromise, but it is a different pie.
- IsinglassA setting agent made from the swim bladders of sturgeon and other fish. Powdered gelatine is the usual modern substitute, though setting strength differs and the quantity is best judged by testing a spoonful. The jelly wants to be only just liquid when poured through the vent hole so it runs into the gaps and sets there rather than soaking the pastry.
- Filling the pie after bakingWait for the pie to cool to warm before pouring, not while hot, or the jelly will simply drain away. Then chill overnight before cutting; the pie is served cold and will not slice properly until the jelly is firm.
- YieldA pie built round a 4-5 lb bird with 3 lb of forcemeat will serve fifteen to twenty as part of a cold table, cut in the third-inch slices the recipe describes.
Raised pies of this kind sit at the point where English cookery and French charcuterie meet. The standing crust, moulded by hand or in a hinged tin and stiff enough to serve as its own baking dish, is an old English form running back to the medieval coffin; the boned bird stuffed with a pounded veal-and-bacon farce and studded with truffles is straight out of the French repertoire, where the same construction is more usually called a pâté en croûte. Cassell's, compiled for households that aspired to a professional standard without a professional brigade, is careful to explain the pounding, the panada and the jelly separately, and equally careful to add that the poulterer may do the boning. The dish belongs to the cold buffet and the ball supper, where a pie could be carried in whole, cut in even slices and eaten at room temperature over several hours, and where the jelly poured in at the end was as much preservative as garnish.