Foods of England - Veal and Ham Pie

Veal and Ham Pie

Pies and Pastries

Chunks of salted veal and ham, slightly spiced, in a hot-water crust. Once immensely popular, recent concerns about the ethics of veal frequently convert this into Chicken and Ham pie.

Gloucester Citizen – Thursday 26 August 1943

Original Receipt in ‘A Shilling Cookery for The People‘ by Alexis Soyer (Soyer 1845);

264. Veal Pie.- Delicate veal and ham pies can be made like the above, rolling up the veal and a little ham, or bacon, together, and a little stuffing, if handy. Proceed as for steak, or as for family steak-pies.

Pork pies may be made in the same way.

Original Receipt in ‘The Book of Household Management‘, 1861, edited by Isabella Beeton (See Mrs.B)

VEAL AND HAM PIE.
898. INGREDIENTS: 2 lbs. of veal cutlets,1/2 lb. of boiled ham, 2 tablespoonfuls of minced savoury herbs, 1/4 teaspoonful of grated nutmeg, 2 blades of pounded mace, pepper and salt to taste, a strip of lemon-peel finely minced, the yolks of 2 hard-boiled eggs,1/2 pint of water, nearly1/2 pint of good strong gravy, puff-crust.
Mode: Cut the veal into nice square pieces, and put a layer of them at the bottom of a pie-dish; sprinkle over these a portion of the herbs, spices, seasoning, lemon-peel, and the yolks of the eggs cut in slices; cut the ham very thin, and put a layer of this in. Proceed in this manner until the dish is full, so arranging it that the ham comes at the top. Lay a puff-paste on the edge of the dish, and pour in about1/2 pint of water; cover with crust, ornament it with leaves, brush it over with the yolk of an egg, and bake in a well-heated oven for 1 to 1-1/2 hour, or longer, should the pie be very large. When it is taken out of the oven, pour in at the top, through a funnel, nearly1/2 pint of strong gravy: this should be made sufficiently good that, when cold, it may cut in a firm jelly. This pie may be very much enriched by adding a few mushrooms, oysters, or sweetbreads; but it will be found very good without any of the last-named additions.
Time: 1-1/2 hour, or longer, should the pie be very large.
Average cost: 3s.
Sufficient: for 5 or 6 persons.
Seasonable: from March to October.

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