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A Pot Pie

A historical recipe from Miss Leslie's Complete Cookery Directions for Cookery, in Its Various Branches, by Eliza Leslie (1853).

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A historical recipe

Miss Leslie's Complete Cookery Directions for Cookery, in Its Various Branches, by Eliza Leslie (1853). Project Gutenberg eBook #60025.

From an old book: a historical recipe, not current advice. Its methods, additives and storage may be unsafe by today's standards.

Ingredients 2 ingredients

  1. three pounds of flour
  2. a quart of water

Possible health benefits

General information, not medical advice.

  1. Flour Source of phosphorus · Source of copper · Source of manganese · +1

    Source of phosphorus · 106 mg per 100 g, 15% of the reference intake per 100 g

    • Phosphorus contributes to normal energy-yielding metabolism.
    • Phosphorus contributes to normal function of cell membranes.
    • Phosphorus contributes to the maintenance of normal bones.
    1 more authorised claims
    • Phosphorus contributes to the maintenance of normal teeth.

    Phosphorus is a mineral contained in each cell in our body. Most phosphorus is in the bones and teeth, and some is in your genes. NIH fact sheet

    Source of copper · 0.2 mg per 100 g, 17% of the reference intake per 100 g

    • Copper contributes to maintenance of normal connective tissues.
    • Copper contributes to normal energy-yielding metabolism.
    • Copper contributes to normal functioning of the nervous system.
    5 more authorised claims
    • Copper contributes to normal hair pigmentation.
    • Copper contributes to normal iron transport in the body.
    • Copper contributes to normal skin pigmentation.
    • Copper contributes to the normal function of the immune system.
    • Copper contributes to the protection of cells from oxidative stress.

    Copper is a mineral that you need to stay healthy. Your body uses copper to carry out many important functions, including making energy, connective tissues, and blood vessels. NIH fact sheet

    Source of manganese · 0.6 mg per 100 g, 28% of the reference intake per 100 g

    • Manganese contributes to normal energy-yielding metabolism.
    • Manganese contributes to the maintenance of normal bones.
    • Manganese contributes to the normal formation of connective tissue.
    1 more authorised claims
    • Manganese contributes to the protection of cells from oxidative stress.

    Manganese is a mineral that your body needs to stay healthy. Your body uses manganese to make energy and protect your cells from damage. NIH fact sheet

    Source of selenium · 10 µg per 100 g, 19% of the reference intake per 100 g

    • Selenium contributes to normal spermatogenesis.
    • Selenium contributes to the maintenance of normal hair.
    • Selenium contributes to the maintenance of normal nails.
    3 more authorised claims
    • Selenium contributes to the normal function of the immune system.
    • Selenium contributes to the normal thyroid function.
    • Selenium contributes to the protection of cells from oxidative stress.

    Selenium is a nutrient that the body needs to stay healthy. Your thyroid gland needs selenium to produce hormones and function properly. NIH fact sheet

    Nutrients per 100 g of “Flour, 00”, USDA FoodData Central.

Claims: EU Register of health claims (Regulation (EU) No 432/2012, © European Union, CC BY 4.0), shown only where the ingredient meets the claim's conditions (Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006). Nutrients: USDA FoodData Central (CC0). Facts: NIH Office of Dietary Supplements (public domain).

Cook safely

Keep children and pets away from the hob and the oven, and keep oven gloves and a lid within reach.

  • Boiling water and steam. Turn pan handles inward, away from the edge of the hob. Lift lids away from you, and pour hot water away from your body: steam burns too.
  • Sharp knives. Cut on a board that doesn't slip (a damp cloth under it helps), and curl the fingers of the hand that holds the food.

Method

  1. Take a pair of large fine fowls.
  2. Cut them up, wash the pieces, and season them with pepper only.
  3. Make a good paste in the proportion of a pound and a half of minced suet to three pounds of flour.
  4. Let there be plenty of paste, as it is always much liked by the eaters of pot pie.
  5. Roll out the paste not very thin, and cut most of it into long squares.
  6. Butter the sides of a pot, and line them with paste nearly to the top.
  7. Lay slices of cold ham at the bottom of the pot, and then the pieces of fowl, interspersed all through with squares of paste, and potatoes pared and quartered.
  8. Pour in a quart of water.
  9. Cover the whole with a lid of paste, having a slit in the centre, through which the gravy will bubble up.
  10. Boil it steadily for two hours.
  11. Half an hour before you take it up, put in through the hole in the centre of the crust, some bits of butter rolled in flour, to thicken the gravy.
  12. When done, put the pie on a large dish, and pour the gravy over it.
  13. You may intersperse it all through with cold ham.
  14. A pot-pie may be made of ducks, rabbits, squirrels, or venison.
  15. Also of beef-steaks.
  16. A beef-steak, or some pork-steaks (the lean only) greatly improve a chicken pot-pie.
  17. If you use no ham, season with salt.

Plating

Cookware for this recipe

  • Saucepan
  • Chef's knife
  • Cutting board
  • Rolling pin
Source Public domain in the USA
Credit

From Miss Leslie's Complete Cookery Directions for Cookery, in Its Various Branches, by Eliza Leslie (1853). Digitised by Project Gutenberg, eBook #60025 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/60025). Public domain in the USA; its status may differ elsewhere.

What was changed: As printed, from the book's text; Project Gutenberg's header and licence removed. Ingredient lines were read out of the text by a program. A historical recipe, not current advice.