Estimated Nutrition (whole recipe, rough)
Counts 6 of 7 ingredients — the other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and contribute nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume — 6 portions →
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Beef | 100g cooked | 250 |
| Oyster | 6 medium (84g) | 81 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Black Pepper | 1 tsp ground (2.3g) | 6 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| Pie | not in our table | 0 |
Totals for the whole recipe, adding one typical portion per ingredient — listed above. Quantities in the recipe are not counted, so this is a rough guide only — not suitable for medical or dietary planning.
Ingredients
- one pint of oysters will make this pie
- one tablespoon pow- dered sugar
- half pound to a quart of flour
- a quart of flour
- a piece of common pound-cake will produce a bigger
- a piece of beef
- two crusts firmly together
- salt
- pepper
Directions
Mrs. C. Beck.
Take a pie tin about an inch deep and line with or- dinary pie-crust, spread on a layer of oysters, season with salt and pepper, cut some of the crust in small squares and lay around on- the oysters, add another layer of oysters seasoning as before, pour on some of the oyster liquor, and cover with a crust having a good opening in the ^center to allow the steam to es- cape so that it will not boil out. One pint of oysters will make this pie.
PASTRY. 215
Use the best washed butter or lard ; the propor- tions for a .rich paste are a scant pound of butter or lard to a heaping quart of sifted flour and a teaspoon salt, and some add one tablespoon pow- dered sugar ; mix in a cool temperature, handle as lightly and as little as possible, chop a large spoonful of the shortening into a fourth part of the flour, and with knife or wooden spoon, and cold or ice water, make as soft a dough as can easily be handled ; dredge with flour, transfer dough to a marble slab or hard wood board, roll thin, cover the surface with thin slices of butter and lard, dredge over a layer of flour,, double over, and with your bread-pin roll out again until as thin as before, repeating the process several times ; after the last time, instead of rolling up, fold it once or twice, and cut the pieces for use from the edge to keep the layers of shortening as near horizon- tal as possible, and to prevent mixing them up as is done in moulding or rolling. This process makes flaky and delicious paste. Never fill pies until just before putting them in the oven. Always use tin pie- pans, since in earthen pans the under crust is not likely to be well baked. Just before putting On the
216 THE BUCKEYE COOK BOOK.
upper crust, wet the rim of the lower with a thick paste of flour and water, and press the two crusts firmly together ; this will prevent that bane of all pastry cooks — a bursted pie. Bake in a moderate oven, having as good a body of heat at the bottom as at the top of oven, or the lower crust will be clammy and raw.
It is proper to observe that very nice pastry for family use may be made, by reducing the quantity of short- ening to even so little as a half pound to a quart of flour, especially when children or dyspeptics are to be considered.
In warm weather, when not ready to bake immedi- ately after making up your pastry, keep it in the ice- chest until wanted, and in any event it is nicer to let it thus remain for one or two hours..
Say to your pastry, "keep cool," to your oven "do it brown."
To prevent the juice of pies from soaking into the under crust, beat an egg well, and with a bit of cloth dipped into the egg rub over the crust before filling the pies.
For a more wholesome pie-crust shortening, boil , beans or potatoes until soft, make into a broth, work through a colander, mix as much into the flour as can be done and preserve sufficient tenacity in the dough. Knead moderately stiff'and roll a little thicker than crust shortened with lard.
The virtues and vices of mince pies have served to point many a hygienic moral, but while it is quite true that the mince pie is not strictly hygienic, it is
PASTRY. 217
not an every-day dish. The mince pie is one of the few articles of food that have come down to us from a remote period, and still has the flavor of old associa- tions and the solid respectability which belongs to centuries of history and tradition. It is less to be feared than many apparently simple forms of highly concentrated food, such as butter and sugar, and often a piece of common pound-cake will produce a bigger "nightmare'' than a piece of the richest mince pie". Mince pie is not the real thing, if it is not rich, and it is the deterioration of mince pies, and the fact that they are left now-a-days, like almost everything else, to servants, who do not even know how to properly boil a piece of beef, that they have been brought into disrepute. Their preparation should therefore be confided to no careless or unworthy hands, but every ingredient should be thoughtfully provided and deli- cately prepared, and the whole put together and blended with the skill of an artist, and the precision of a mechanic. Tact, wisdom, judgment, knowledge and experience all go into the proper construction of a genuine mince pie, to say nothing of kindness of heart and liberality of disposition.