This magnificent paté de
gibier is illustrated in Agnes Marshall's Cookery
Book (London: 1880).
As a result
of the invention of the sprung metal pie form. these 'French'
raised pies became very popular in the nineteenth century These useful
moulds were sold by braziers and kitchen equipment retailers, who marketed
a great variety of designs. Because of the support the metal form afforded
the pie during baking, it was possible to use a finer pastry than the
old fashioned hot water crust which had been used since medieval times.
Mrs Marshall's pastry recipe opposite makes a delicious crust for pies
of this kind. Earlier pie makers had to raise their pies entirely by
hand.
A slice of Mrs
Marshall's pie.
A Yorkshire pie for Christmas served to the Royal Family at Windsor Castle on Christmas Day 1857
Earlier
diners ate their pies by cutting off the lid and eating the filling
with a spoon. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the
English had a taste for pies made in very elaborate shapes. The designs
published by Robert May, Henry Howard, Edward Kidder and John Thacker
give us a very good idea of what these extraordinary pies, custards
and florendines looked like. Ivan is a very experienced pie maker and
has frequenly raised some very large pies by hand. He particularly
enjoys making the shaped pies of the Stuart period, like the salmon
pie of 1660 below. Move your cursor over the pie to see its garnish
of oyster chewitts. Click
it for MORE PIE RECIPES
A stack of chewitts, also from May.
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A re-creation of Garrett's game pie with
poached darioles of rabbit
French Raised Game Pie.
(Paté de Gibier à la Française.) |
Prepare a raised pie paste,
and with it line a No. 2 size French raised pie mould to scarcely a quarter
of an inch thick; then prepare a farce or mince as follows: Take ten
ounces of veal, twelve ounces of fresh pork, and chop very fine, or pass
twice through a mincing machine; season with coralline pepper, salt,
and arrange this on the paste in the mould. Fill in with fillets of pigeon,
chicken, or any game you may have, strips of tongue, ham, or bacon, hard-boiled
yolks of eggs that are masked with chopped parsley and seasoned with
pepper and salt, button mushrooms, pistachios, truffles, pâté de
foie gras, coekscombs - and any farced birds, such as larks, quails,
or ortolans, so as to stand higher than the mould; cover in with more
of the farce or mince, and then put a somewhat thinner layer of paste
over the top, first wetting the edges of the paste round the mould, press
the edges together, and trim off the paste; brush the top lightly over
with cold water, stamp out some rounds of the paste and work them into
leaves or other pretty designs, and ornament the top of the pie with
them; fix a buttered paper round the mould standing some six inches higher
than the top of the pie. Bake gently for about two and a half to three
hours, taking care that the paste is not browned, as it should be a rich
fawn colour when done; when cooked put the pie aside in the mould till
it is cold, then remove the top by cutting the paste through round the
edge of the mould, and fill up the pie with any nice meat jelly that
is not quite set, and put aside again till the jelly is quite set; then
cover the top with some chopped aspic and replace the paste cover. Remove
the mould, dish on a paper, and it may be garnished round with aspic
jelly. Care must be taken when filling up the mould that the jelly is
not too liquid or it will go through the paste. This is excellent as
a side dish, or for wedding breakfasts, ball suppers, and, in fact, for
use generally.
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| Raised Pie Paste |
Take one pound of fine
flour and rub into it a quarter of a pound of butter, a pinch of salt,
one whole egg, then mix it with cold water into a stiff paste and use.
From Agnes B. Marshall Cookery
Book (London: 1880) |
| A raised pie from Garrett's Encyclopaedia
of Practical Cookery garnished with darioles, aspic and chopped parsley. |
Three pies were made from seventeenth century designs
| These small pies, rather like modern English pork pies, were known as chewitts, arranged here in a stack. Recipes varied, but they frequently contained a mixture of meat and dried fruit like mince pies. In late Stuart court cookery, they were sometimes used to garnish the elaborate bisques, terrines and olios of the first course. |
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