Rumpsteak Pie. Take three pounds of tender rump steak, cut it into pieces half the size of your hand, trim off all the skin., the sinews, and every part which can not be eaten, and beat the steak with a chopper or a kreatode. Chop very finely half a dozen eschalots, and mix them with half an ounce of pepper and salt, strew some of the mixture at the bottom of the dish, then a layer of steak, then some more of the mixture, and so on till the dish is full; add half a gill of mushroom ketchup and the same quan tity of rich stock; cover it with a good paste, and bake it two hours. Large oysters blanched, bearded, and laid alternately with the steak, is a great improvement, and the liquor in which they were blanched, when reduced, may be used instead of the ketchup or stock. The steak must be tender, or made so by beating.
Preparing Forcemeat. Remove the rind, gris tle, bone, and brown parts from, three-quarters of a pound of fat bacon, take three-quarters of a pound of veal with any trimmings, mince them very finely, and add a good dessert spoonful of spiced salt. Work all these well together in a mortar till it is of a rather stiff paste, and put it aside in a basin. 1VIake a short paste and line the inside of a plain oval pie mould. Now arrange a layer of the force meat on the paste at the bottom of the mould; use about one-fourth. Then a layer of rashers of ham; then another layer of forcemeat; then the veal, cut into convenient pieces. Sprinkle over vvith spiced salt. Now another layer of force meat, then rashers of ham, then forcemeat. Cover the surface vvith three rashers of fat bacon and a bay-leaf ; cover with paste, and bake for two hours in a moderate oven, covering the top with a piece of buttered paper. A fine plated skewer thrust in will enable you to judge when the meat is sufficiently baked. If the spice is at hand this pie is no more trouble, nor does it take more time, than au ordinary veal and ham pie, and is much better. The chief point to be borne in mind is not to have it too highly seasoned, and the meat should be free from gristle and skin.
Veal and Ham Pie. Take about two pounds of lean veal, from the breast or fillet, free it from fat, skin, bone, and gristle, and three-quarters of a pound of ham or bacon, in thin rashers free from rind and coarse parts. Cut these in conven ient pieces. Prepare a short or puff paste and line the dish. Mince finely half-a-dozen button mushrooms, a sprig of parsley, and sweat these in a clean stewpan with an ounce of butter and a little flour; add a gill or half a pint of good stock, or in default water, and a dessertspoonful of ketchup. Bring these slowly to the boil and
'stand it aside. Prepare three hard boiled eggs and cut them into dice; if preferred use only the yolks. Now arrange the meat, a layer of veal, then ham, and so on, finishing with ham min gled with the egg, (some use a little grated lemon peel, others add oysters, sweetbreads, mush rooms, etc.) The pie may be made rich and savory in a dozen ways, according to taste. Finish the pie and strain through the hole at the top all but a wineglassful of the gravy; cover the hole with an ornamental piece of paste and bake. When ready remove the ornament at the top, make the remainder of the gravy very hot aud strain it in, cover the hole again and serve. In meat pies it is essential that the meat should be tender and free from skin and gristle.
Rissoles. Take the trimmings of puff paste; roll the paste out to the thickness of a penny piece; place small baIls of meat, the same as those prepared for croquets, and put them at distances of two inches from each other ; moisten the paste round these balls of meat with a brush dipped in water; fold the flap of the front part of the paste over the balls, just as you would fold a sheet of paper lengthwise ; press all round them with the edge of the thumb; cut them out with a fluted round tin cutter, and place them on a dish sprinkled with flour: having cut out a sufficient number, fry them in hot fat, and serve up with fried parsley on a napkin. The differ ence between a croquet and a rissole is this,— the rissole is always fried in a paste, the croquet in egg and bread-crumb. Take care to have a good paste and the rissoles neatly made.
Open Jam Tarts. All fruit pies and tarts require a light, good crust. Take an open tart mould and line it with paste about a quarter of an inch in thickness. 1VIake a few holes in the bottom; this is to prevent the paste puffing up in the center. Bake in a brisk oven ten or fif teen minutes. Let the paste cool, then add the preserve, but if the tart is to be served hot, warm the jam in a clean ste-wpan and add at once. The tart may be decorated with leaves, flowers, or stars, cut out of the paste and baked. It is not desirable to bake the jam in the tart; it spoils its flavor and appearance. A. good oven is essential for all fruit pastry.