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Beef, Mutton, or Lamb Pie
*748. Take three pounds of the veiny piece of beef that has fat and lean, or of the chops from a loin or neck of mutton; wash it and season it with salt, pepper, mace, and allspice, in fine powder, rubbing them well in, adding a very little onion or shalot, chopped, and, if approved, a few pickled mushrooms. Set it by the side of a slow fire in a stewpot that will just hold it; put to it a piece of butter, about two ounces, and cover it quite close; let it just simmer in its own steam till it commences to shrink. When it is cold, add more seasoning, forcemeat, and boiled eggs; and, if it is in a dish, put some gravy to it before baking; but, if it is only in crust, do not put the gravy till after it is cold and in jelly. Cover with common short crust, or puff paste (see pars. 725 and 732). Forcemeat may be put both under and over the meat, if preferred to balls.
A two-stage cold-weather pie: the meat is stewed gently in its own juices, cooled, then built into a crust with forcemeat and eggs and baked. The hinge is the first stage — the meat should barely tremble, never boil.
- The "veiny piece"An old butcher's term for the thin flank, the striped lean-and-fat cut from the belly end. Modern equivalents are beef skirt, flank or a well-marbled piece of chuck; for mutton, use lamb neck chops or shoulder.
- Simmer in its own steamA tight-fitting pan and a close lid are the whole method — the two ounces of butter and the meat's own liquor are all the moisture there is. Keep the heat very low, as the 'slow fire' and 'just simmer' of the original require, until the meat visibly tightens and shrinks; no time is given. Too brisk a boil will dry it out and catch.
- Cool it properlyThe recipe waits for the meat to go cold before assembling. Spread it out to cool quickly rather than leaving the covered pot on the stove, and refrigerate once it stops steaming.
- Mace and allspiceMace is the lacy outer coat of nutmeg, warmer and less sweet than the nut; buy it ground or grate a blade. Allspice is the whole dried Jamaica pepper berry, not a mixed spice blend. Around half a teaspoon of each, with a teaspoon of salt, suits three pounds of meat.
- Shalot and pickled mushrooms"Shalot" is shallot. Pickled mushrooms were a common item in English cookery of the period, sharp and dark; a spoonful of drained cocktail-pickled mushrooms, or a teaspoon of mushroom ketchup, gives the same salty-sour lift.
- Forcemeat and eggsForcemeat here means a seasoned sausage-type stuffing — minced pork or veal with breadcrumbs, suet, herbs and lemon zest. Layering it above and below the meat, as suggested, is easier than balls and keeps the slices tidy. The eggs should be hard-boiled and shelled whole, laid in a line down the pie so each slice shows a round.
- Gravy or jellyA dish pie takes stock before it goes in the oven. A pie made 'only in crust' — most likely a free-standing one — takes a well-reduced, gelatinous stock added after baking, once the pie is cold and the gravy has set to jelly, so it does not soak the pastry.
- OvenNo temperature is given. Start at 425F for about 20 minutes to set and colour the crust, then drop to 350F for a further hour or so for a pie of this size. Cover the top with foil if it browns before the filling is heated through.
- YieldThree pounds of meat plus forcemeat and eggs will serve eight generously, and this pie is at its best cold the next day.