1840 - Directions for Cookery

A Beef Steak Pie

DDV CULINARY

MAKE a good paste in the proportion of a pound of butter to two pounds of sifted
flour. Divide it in half, and line with one sheet of it the bottom and sides of a
deep dish, which must first be well buttered. Have ready two pounds of the best
beef-steak, cut thin, and well beaten; the bone and fat being omitted. Season it
with pepper and salt. Spread a layer of the steak at the bottom of the pie, and on
it a layer of sliced potato, and a few small bits of butter rolled in flour. Then
another layer of meat, potato, &c., till the dish is full. You may greatly improve
he flavour by adding mushrooms, or chopped clams or oysters, leaving out the hard
parts. If you use clams or oysters, moisten the other ingredients with a little of
their liquor. If not, pour in, at the last, half a pint of cold water, or less if
the pie is small. Cover the pie with the other sheet of paste as a lid, and notch
the edges handsomely, having reserved a little of the paste to make a flower or
tulip to stick in the slit at the top. Bake it in a quick oven an hour and a
quarter, or longer, in proportion to its size. Send it to table hot.

You may make a similar pie of mutton chops, or veal cutlets, or venison steaks,
always leaving out the bone and fat.

Many persons in making pies stew the meat slowly in a little water till about half
done, and they then put it with its gravy into the paste and finish by baking.
In this case add no water to the pie, as there will be already sufficient liquid.
If you half-stew the meat, do the potatoes with it.