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, and keep it in the pot, till it is time to send it to table. Serve it up with wine-sauce.
A square cloth, which when tied up will make the pudding of a round form, is better than a bag.
Apple Batter Pudding is made by pouring the batter over a dish of pippins, pared, cored, and sweetened, either whole or cut in pieces. Bake it, and eat it with butter and sugar.
BREAD PUDDING.
A quarter of a pound of grated stale bread.
A quart of milk, boiled with two or three sticks of cinnamon, slightly broken.
Eight eggs.
A quarter of a pound of sugar.
A little grated lemon-peel.
Boil the milk with the cinnamon, strain it, and set it away till quite cold.
Grate as much crumb of stale bread as will weigh a quarter of a pound. Beat the eggs, and when the milk is cold, stir them into it in turn with the bread and sugar. Add the lemon-peel, and if you choose, a table spoonful of rosewater.
Bake it in a buttered dish, and grate nutmeg over it when done. Do not send it to table hot. Baked puddings should never be eaten till they have become cold, or at least cool.
RICE PUDDING.
A quarter of a pound of rice.
A quarter of a pound of butter.
A quarter of a pound of sugar.
A pint and a half of milk, or cream and milk.
Six eggs.
A tea-spoonful of mixed spice, mace, nutmeg and cinnamon.
A half wine-glass of rose-water.
Wash the rice. Boil it till very soft. Drain it and set it away to get cold. Put the butter and sugar together in a pan, and stir them till very light. Add to them the spice and rose-water. Beat the eggs very light, and stir them, gradually, into the milk. Then stir the eggs and the milk into the butter and sugar, alternately with the rice.
Bake it and grate nutmeg over the top.
Currants or raisins, floured, and stirred in at the last, will greatly improve it.
It should be eaten cold, or quite cool.
BOSTON PUDDING.
Make a good common paste with a pound and a half of flour, and three quarters of a pound of butter. [Footnote: Or three quarters of a pound of beef suet, chopped very fine. Mix the suet at once with the flour, knead it with cold water into a stiff dough, and then roll it out into a large thin sheet. Fold it up and roll it again.] When you roll it out the last time, cut off the edges, till you get the sheet of paste of an even square shape.