A Tasty Pot-Pasty
This recipie is adapted from Das Brandenburgische Koch-Buch (1723), where it is called: Eine wohlschmeckende Topff-Pastete. It is delicious, but not made without effort....
Poach veal in water with onions and carrots. Remove the meat, and chop it into small pieces. Strain the broth (discarding the veggies) and cook it down to concentrate its flavours. Put the meat back into the broth, and add dried currants, sliced pears, walnuts, fresh or dried plums, ginger, nutmeg and cinnamon. Stir well and dot with butter. Soak dried orange peel in water, then cook quickly in red wine and pour both wine and peel into the pan. There should now be just enough liquid to cover the meat/fruit/nut mixture. Cook 1 & 1/2 hours on low heat to blend the flavours. Remove from the heat and strain; place the meat in a pie crust (dough stiffened with an egg). Skim any fat off of the broth and reduce it over high heat to a syrup. Pour the syrup over the meat in the piecrust, dot with butter and cover with a second crust. Decorate the top crust and make air slits in it. Brush the top with egg and garnish with walnuts. Bake at 250 degrees (centigrade)for 40 minutes. Serve at room temperature the next day with a good glass of red wine.
Last update: Sunday, October 01, 2006