Mutton Pie
A very good family pie is made with the remains of a cold leg, loin, or any other joint of mutton from which nice neat slices of rather lean meat can be cut. These should be put with a good seasoning, in alternate layers with thinly sliced potatoes, into a pie-dish, commencing at the bottom with some of the meat, and finishing at the top with potatoes. Parsley, savory herbs, onion, or shallot, with a little mace, white pepper, and salt may be used at discretion. A cupful of good gravy from the meat should be poured into the pie before the crust is put on. Suet is generally used for the crust. Time, an hour to bake.
A leftovers pie of the sort every Victorian household ran on: cooked mutton, raw potato, gravy and a suet crust. The original assumes you already know how to make suet pastry and how hot your oven is, so those are the gaps worth filling.
- The hinge: slice the potatoes thinThe meat is already cooked, so the hour in the oven exists to cook the raw potato. Slice it no thicker than an eighth of an inch, or par-boil the slices for five minutes, otherwise the crust browns over hard, undercooked potato.
- Oven temperatureNo temperature is given. Bake at 375F for the hour, dropping to 350F if the crust colours too fast. A suet crust wants a reasonably hot start to set the pastry before the fat runs.
- Suet crust proportionsThe original assumes you know this. A common working ratio is 8 oz flour to 4 oz shredded suet and enough cold water to bind, roughly 4-5 tablespoons; a teaspoon of baking powder gives a lighter crust, though many period versions use plain flour alone. Beef suet from a butcher is best; packaged shredded suet is a reasonable substitute.
- A cupful of gravyAbout 8 fl oz. If you have no gravy from the joint, use well-reduced lamb or beef stock. Do not add more than a cupful: the potatoes give up liquid as they cook and a wetter pie will boil up under the crust.
- MaceGround mace is the outer covering of nutmeg, more delicate and less sweet. A quarter teaspoon is enough for this quantity; nutmeg can stand in, used a little more sparingly.
- Shallot and "savory herbs""Savory herbs" here means the usual mixed dried herbs of the era: thyme, marjoram, a little sage. One shallot finely chopped, or half a small onion, scattered between the layers.
- MuttonTrue mutton, from a sheep over a year old, is sold mainly by halal and specialist butchers. Cold roast lamb behaves the same way, though the flavour is gentler and you may want the seasoning at full strength.
- Vent the crustCut a steam hole in the centre before baking. With a cupful of gravy and wet potato beneath, an unvented suet crust lifts and splits at the rim.
- YieldThe original gives no quantities. As a guide, an 8-inch pie dish will take roughly a pound of sliced meat and a pound of potatoes, enough for four.