Chicken Pie

Makes 4-6 servings

1 large chicken
2 onions, some celery, carrots and parsley
4-6 hardcooked eggs, sliced
1 cup diced onions
1 recipe puff pastry
about 1 lb sliced luncheon ham
1 recipe forcemeat
½ cup (approximately) of milk

Method

The day before, boil the chicken with the assorted vegetables for 2½ hours. Cool. Remove the chicken and skin, debone, and cut the meat into 1 inch pieces. Save 3 cups of defatted stock, add the diced onions, bring to boil and simmer for 15 minutes.

Put pieces of chicken a bottom of a very large casserole. Pour some of the onion and stock on top. Then layer with sliced ham, forcemeat, sliced eggs, then another layer of chicken and so on, continuing until all the ingredients are used up. Cover with a puff pastry, pour milk through the steamhole you've made in the center until the pie is full. Bake for an hour in a 400° oven.

Notes

This Victorian recipe is literally right out of Mrs. Beeton. The dish is heavy, much more filling than it appears to both the cook and the diner, and is not suited to summertime consumption.

First served: Samhain 1991
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Last modified: © 1991