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Game Pie, American
Cut heads and feet off four each fat grouse and partridge, neatly draw, remove gall bags, then place in a tureen. Slice off breasts from birds, remove skin, and place in tureen with livers. Add six finely chopped shallots, two chopped branches parsley, a branch chervil, sprig thyme, three bay leaves, teaspoon whole spice, two cloves, a half gill good old rum and two gills sherry. Season with a light tablespoon salt, two saltspoons cayenne pepper and a saltspoon grated nutmeg; turn breasts and livers well in seasoning, cover tureen and keep in ice box for twenty-four hours. Finely chop all remaining carcasses and bones of birds and place in saucepan with one ounce finely chopped raw ham, a small sliced carrot, six sliced shallots, a branch of parsley and six tarragon leaves. Moisten with two gills white wine, a half gill sherry and two gills demi-glace, mix all well together and let slowly cook for one and a half hours, being careful to mix once in a while. Remove, briskly press this "fumet" through a fine sieve into an earthen tureen and let cool off. Finely chop one pound raw lean veal, one and a half pounds fresh fat pork and four ounces larding pork, thoroughly pound in mortar to a pulp, remove and rub through a sieve into "fumet" tureen. Mix both together, cover force with a clean cloth and keep in ice box for twenty-four hours. Roll out three-quarters (only) of paste on a lightly buttered table to one-third inch thick. Lightly butter interior of an oval-shaped, medium-sized pate mould (sufficiently large to conveniently hold material), place it at bottom of baking tin, line interior of mould with layer of paste, being particularly careful to raise up paste a quarter inch higher than brim, and neatly press paste at bottom and sides of mould. Take the two tureens from ice box, neatly wipe breasts and livers with a towel, place on a plate, and strain marinade through cheesecloth into force tureen. Season with a half teaspoon salt, two saltspoons cayenne, a saltspoon each grated nutmeg and ground, mixed spices, pour in two tablespoons truffle liquor and sharply mix until well amalgamated. Cut six truffles in quarters, spread a quarter of force at bottom of mould, carefully arrange three breasts each of partridge and grouse over, and arrange a third of truffles in centre. Spread another similar layer of force over breasts of three more partridges and grouse, another third truffles in centre and livers around, cover with another layer of force and arrange balance of force over, cover top with thin slices larding pork and place a sprig of bay leaf right in centre. Roll out on a floured table half the balance of paste and with it cover pie. Carefully press edges of tureen and paste so as to hermetically close it. Make a hole in centre of pie, arrange a piece buttered white paper in the hole to act as a chimney, and egg surface all around. Roll out balance of paste as thin as possible, with an oval, dentilated pastry cutter stamp out as many pieces as you can, and arrange crown-like one overlapping another around surface of pie, lightly egg and set in moderate oven for two hours. Bring it to oven door, pour in through chimney a half gill brandy, reset in oven for forty-five minutes more, remove and let cool off. Pour in through chimney two gills melted jelly, place in ice box and when jelly is thoroughly set unmould, dress pie on dish with a folded napkin and serve. Whatever is left of pie after having been served envelop in clean cloth and put in cool place, as it will keep in good condition for several weeks.
A cold raised game pie of the grand hotel sort: two days of marinating and forcemeat work before the pastry is even rolled. Nothing here is technically obscure, but the recipe assumes a professional larder and a pastry recipe printed elsewhere in the book.
- The one instruction that mattersThe pie is a large, dense mass of raw forcemeat and meat, so the center must actually reach temperature, not merely the crust brown. Cook until the middle registers 160F on an instant-read thermometer through the chimney hole; the stated 2 hours plus 45 minutes is a reasonable guide for a medium oval mould, not a guarantee.
- Ignore the storage adviceThe closing line about wrapping leftovers in a cloth and keeping them in a cool place for several weeks belongs to a world of cold larders and no expectation of safety. A cooked meat pie sealed under aspic is a good medium for Listeria and, if left at room temperature, worse. Refrigerate and eat within three or four days, or freeze.
- UnitsA gill is 1/2 cup, so two gills is 1 cup and a half gill 1/4 cup. A saltspoon is about 1/4 teaspoon. "A light tablespoon salt" means a slightly under-filled spoon, roughly 2 to 2 1/2 teaspoons.
- Moderate oven350F. Cover the exposed pastry with foil if the decorative overlapping ovals darken before the interior is done.
- "Force," "fumet," "paste"Force is forcemeat; fumet here is the reduced game-carcass stock, not a fish stock; paste is the pastry, which this entry does not give and was presumably assumed to be found elsewhere in the book. Use a sturdy hot-water or lard-and-butter raised-pie dough rather than short flaky pastry, which will not stand up in a mould.
- Pork fats"Fresh fat pork" is unsalted back fat or fatty belly, ground into the forcemeat; "larding pork" is firm back fat cut in thin sheets, used here to cover the top. Substitute unsmoked fatty pork belly for the first and thin-sliced fatback or lardo for the second; smoked bacon will dominate everything.
- Birds and gibletsDomestically hunted grouse and partridge cannot legally be sold in the United States, though imported wild birds are sometimes available; farmed partridge, quail, or squab work, and eight small birds give roughly the breast weight intended. "Neatly draw" means gut them, and the gall bladder must come away from the liver unbroken or the marinade turns bitter.
- Truffles and truffle liquorTruffle liquor is the liquid from tinned truffles. If you are using fresh truffle there is none, and a tablespoon of good sherry plus a little mushroom soaking liquid stands in without pretending to be the same thing.
- Demi-glaceTwo gills of demi-glace means 1 cup of properly reduced brown sauce. Commercial concentrate diluted to a light syrup is acceptable; plain stock will leave the fumet thin and the forcemeat loose.
- Equipment and yieldA hinged oval pate mould of about 8 to 9 inches is the right scale. Between the veal, the pork fats and the birds this is roughly four pounds of filling and will serve upwards of twenty as a cold first course, sliced thin.
The International Cook Book (1906) is credited to Alexander Filippini, long associated with Delmonico's in New York, and this entry shows what "American" could mean in such a kitchen at the time: a French raised pate, worked over two days with fumet, demi-glace and truffles, the title apparently owing more to the grouse and partridge of this continent than to anything in the method. Cold game pie sealed under aspic was buffet and sideboard food, cut in thin slices for a supper table or a shooting lunch, and the technique is essentially that of the English raised pie crossed with French pate en croute -- the pastry chimney vents steam, then serves as the funnel for brandy and finally for melted jelly, which fills the gap left as the meat shrinks and shuts the pie off from the air. That sealing was the preservative logic behind the recipe's confident claim that leftovers would keep for weeks in a cool place, an assumption about cellars and cold weather that no modern kitchen should inherit.