Seventy-Five Receipts for Pastry Cakes, and Sweetmeats | Page 8

dish, butter it and spread a rich paste over the sides,
and round the edge, but not at the bottom.
Salt oysters will not do for pies. They should be fresh, and as large and
fine as possible.
Drain off part of the liquor from the oysters. Put them into a pan, and
season them with pepper, salt and spice. Stir them well with the
seasoning. Have ready the yolks of eggs, chopped fine, and the grated
bread. Pour the oysters (with as much of their liquor as you please) into
the dish that has the paste in it. Strew over them the chopped egg and
grated bread.
Roll out the lid of the pie, and put it on, crimping the edges
handsomely.
Take a small sheet of paste, cut it into a square and roll it up. Cut it
with a sharp knife into the form of a double tulip.

Make a slit in the centre of the upper crust, and stick the tulip in it.
Cut out eight large leaves of paste, and lay them on the lid.
Bake the pie in a quick oven.
If you think the oysters will be too much done by baking them in the
crust, you can substitute for them pieces of bread, to keep up the lid of
the pie.
Put the oysters with their liquor and the seasoning, chopped egg, grated
bread, &c. into a pan. Cover them closely, and let them just come to a
boil, taking them off the fire, and stirring them frequently.
When the crust is baked, take the lid neatly off (loosening it round the
edge with a knife) take out the pieces of bread, and put in the oysters.
Lay the lid on again very carefully.
For oyster patties, the oysters are prepared in the same manner.
They may be chopped if you choose. They must be put in small shells
of puff-paste.
BEEF-STEAK PIE.
Butter a deep dish, and spread a sheet of paste all over the bottom, sides,
and edge.
Cut away from your beef-steak all the bone, fat, gristle, and skin. Cut
the lean in small thin pieces, about as large,
generally, as the palm of
your hand. Beat the meat well with the rolling-pin, to make it juicy and
tender. If you put in the fat, it will make the gravy too greasy and
strong, as it cannot be skimmed.
Put a layer of meat over the bottom-crust of your dish, and season it to
your taste, with pepper, salt, and, if you choose, a little nutmeg. A
small quantity of mushroom ketchup is an improvement; so, also, is a
little minced onion.

Have ready some cold boiled potatoes sliced thin. Spread over the meat,
a layer of potatoes, and a small piece of butter; then another layer of
meat, seasoned, and then a layer of potatoes, and so on till the dish is
full and heaped up in the middle, having a layer of meat on the top.
Pour in a little water.
Cover the pie with a sheet of paste, and trim the edges. Notch it
handsomely with a knife; and, if you choose, make a tulip of paste, and
stick it in the middle of the lid, and lay leaves of paste round it.
Fresh oysters will greatly improve a beef-steak pie. So also will
mushrooms.
Any meat pie may be made in a similar manner.
INDIAN PUDDING.
A pound of beef-suet, chopped very fine.
A pint of molasses.
A pint
of rich milk.
Four eggs.
A large tea-spoonful of powdered nutmeg
and cinnamon.
A little grated or chipped lemon-peel.
Indian meal
sufficient to make a thick batter.
Warm the milk and molasses, and stir them together. Beat the eggs, and
stir them gradually into the milk and molasses, in turn with the suet and
indian meal. Add the spice and lemon-peel and stir all very hard
together. Take care not to put too much indian meal, or the pudding
will be heavy and solid.
Dip the cloth in boiling water. Shake it out, and flour it
slightly. Pour
the mixture into it, and tie it up, leaving room for the pudding to swell.
Boil it three hours. Serve it up hot, and eat it with sauce made of drawn
butter, wine and nutmeg.
When cold, it is good cut in slices and fried.
BATTER PUDDING.

Six eggs.
Eight table-spoonfuls of sifted flour.
One quart of milk.

A salt-spoonful of salt.
Stir the flour, gradually, into the milk, carefully dissolving all the
lumps. Beat the eggs very light, and add them by degrees to the milk
and flour. Put in the salt, and stir the whole well together.
Take a very thick pudding-cloth. Dip it in boiling water, and flour it.
Pour into it the mixture and tie it up, leaving room for it to swell. Boil it
hard, one hour,