BEEF-STEAK PIE.

604. INGREDIENTS.--3 lbs. of rump-steak, seasoning to taste of salt,
cayenne, and black pepper, crust, water, the yolk of an egg.

_Mode_.--Have the steaks cut from a rump that has hung a few days, that
they may be tender, and be particular that every portion is perfectly
sweet. Cut the steaks into pieces about 3 inches long and 2 wide,
allowing a _small_ piece of fat to each piece of lean, and arrange the
meat in layers in a pie-dish. Between each layer sprinkle a seasoning of
salt, pepper, and, when liked, a few grains of cayenne. Fill the dish
sufficiently with meat to support the crust, and to give it a nice
raised appearance when baked, and not to look flat and hollow. Pour in
sufficient water to half fill the dish, and border it with paste (see
Pastry); brush it over with a little water, and put on the cover;
slightly press down the edges with the thumb, and trim off close to the
dish. Ornament the pie with leaves, or pieces of paste cut in any shape
that fancy may direct, brush it over with the beaten yolk of an egg;
make a hole in the top of the crust, and bake in a hot oven for about
1-1/2 hour.

_Time_.--In a hot oven, 1-1/2 hour.

_Average cost_, for this size, 3s 6d.

_Sufficient_ for 6 or 8 persons.

_Seasonable_ at any time.

Note.--Beef-steak pies may be flavoured in various ways, with oysters
and their liquor, mushrooms, minced onions, &c. For family pies, suet
may be used instead of butter or lard for the crust, and clarified
beef-dripping answers very well where economy is an object. Pieces of
underdone roast or boiled meat may in pies be used very advantageously;
but always remove the bone from pie-meat, unless it be chicken or game.
We have directed that the meat shall be cut smaller than is usually the
case; for on trial we have found it much more tender, more easily
helped, and with more gravy, than when put into the dish in one or two
large steaks.

[Illustration: SHERRY PUDDING DISH.]

BEEF-STEAK AND KIDNEY PUDDING.

605. INGREDIENTS.--2 lbs. of rump-steak, 2 kidneys, seasoning to taste
of salt and black pepper, suet crust made with milk (see Pastry), in the
proportion of 6 oz. of suet to each 1 lb. of flour.

_Mode_.--Procure some tender rump steak (that which has been hung a
little time), and divide it into pieces about an inch square, and cut
each kidney into 8 pieces. Line the dish (of which we have given an
engraving) with crust made with suet and flour