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Convent Pie
1 cup top milk 1 cup bread crumbs 1 cup cooked macaroni 1 cup cheese, grated 1 green pepper, finely minced 3 eggs, well beaten Salt and pepper Scald milk, add bread crumbs, then other ingredients, adding eggs last, and season. Pour into greased ring mold and bake for 3/4 of an hour in a moderate oven. Serves 6.
A baked savory custard bound with bread crumbs and macaroni, closer to a strata than to any pie with pastry. The whole thing hinges on gentle heat: the eggs are the only structure it has.
- Top milkBefore homogenization, cream rose to the top of the bottle and "top milk" meant the richer few inches poured off it. Use half-and-half, or whole milk with a couple of tablespoons of cream stirred in.
- Moderate oven350F. At much above that the egg custard curdles and weeps around the macaroni.
- Scalding the milkBring it just to the point where it steams and shivers at the edge, about 180F, then take it off. Let the crumb mixture cool for a few minutes before the beaten eggs go in or they will scramble in the bowl.
- Ring moldA 6-cup ring mold or a plain 8-inch round pan. Grease it well. The recipe bakes it dry, but setting the mold in a roasting pan with an inch of hot water will keep the outer edge from setting hard before the center is done.
- DonenessThree-quarters of an hour is a reasonable estimate for a ring mold, but judge by a knife inserted halfway between rim and center coming out clean, and by the middle no longer sloshing. A center reading of about 170F is set.
- CheeseThe recipe specifies only 'cheese, grated'. A firm aged cheddar or an American loaf cheese suits the dish; grated rather than cubed, it disperses through the custard instead of sinking.
- Green pepperRaw minced pepper releases water as it bakes. Sweat it briefly in a little butter first for a cleaner set and a rounder flavor.
- Unmolding and servingLet it rest ten minutes, run a thin knife around both edges, then invert onto a warm platter. The hollow center takes a filling well: creamed peas, stewed tomatoes, or a mushroom sauce. Serves 6.
"Meatless" sections were a standing feature of American menu books well into the twentieth century, serving both Friday and Lenten abstinence in Catholic households and the general thrift of stretching a cup of cheese across six plates. Names like Convent Pie, Nun's Toast and Lenten Loaf gestured at that religious observance without necessarily having any documented connection to a particular order or kitchen; they signaled to a hostess flipping through the index that the dish contained no meat. The construction here, scalded milk poured over bread crumbs and bound with beaten egg, is the old panada method that underlies bread pudding, and the ring mold with its sauce-filled center was one of the small theatrical flourishes that made a meatless supper look like a company dish.