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A bill of fare

Dave Porter and His Rivals

by Edward Stratemeyer

DAVE PORTER AND HIS RIVALSEDWARD STRATEMEYER
Our binding, not the publisher's

“The door was closed and locked, and one after another the bundles were opened. The boys who had done the purchasing had certainly "spread themselves," as Dave said. They had obtained some fresh rolls and cake, an apple and a pumpkin pie, some cheese, and some cold ham and tongue, a bottle of pickles, and five different kinds of crackers in boxes.”

From a cookbook of 1861

A cook of roughly the same moment, setting down the same dish.

1861  ·  Beeton
APPLE TART OR PIE

1233. INGREDIENTS.--Puff-paste No. 1205 or 1206, apples; to every lb. of unpared apples allow 2 oz. of moist sugar, 1/2 teaspoonful of finely-minced lemon-peel, 1 tablespoonful of lemon-juice. _Mode_.--Make 1/2 lb. of puff-paste by either of the above-named recipes, place a border of it round the edge of a pie-dish, and fill it with apples pared, cored, and cut into slices; sweeten with moist sugar, add the lemon-peel and juice, and 2 or 3 tablespoonfuls of water; cover with crust, cut it evenly round close to the edge of the pie-dish, and bake in a hot oven from 1/2 to 3/4 hour, or rather longer, should the pie be very large. When it is three-parts done, take it out of the oven, put the white of an egg on a plate, and, with the blade of a knife, whisk it to a froth; brush the pie over with this, then sprinkle upon it some sifted sugar, and then a few drops of water.

Sources: The passage is from Edward Stratemeyer, Dave Porter and His Rivals, free to read in full at Project Gutenberg. The recipe is from Beeton, The Book of Household Management of 1861, also free in full. Both are in the public domain in the United States. The binding above is ours — oxblood cloth, cheese stamp.

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