Hand-Book of Practical Cookery, for Ladies and Professional Cooks: Containing the Whole Science and Art of Preparing Human Food

fruit is not cooked, it must be mixed with sugar and essence, or cinnamon, or nutmeg, according to kind, if cooked, that is, stewed, or in _compote_ or in jelly, it is sweetened and flavored. The following are used to make pies: _apples_, _apricots_, _cherries_, _currants_, _blackberries_, _cranberries_, _gooseberries_, _grapes_, _mulberries_, _oranges_, _peaches_, _pears_, _pine-apples_, _plums_, _quinces_, _raspberries_, _lemon_, _rhubarb_, _prunes_, _whortleberries_, etc. It is better to stone the fruit before using it. Pies are decorated in the three following ways: 1. When you use cooked fruit, put a thin layer of rice (prepared as for _croquettes_) on the paste, then a layer of stewed fruit; then the strips over, and bake. Two or three layers of each may be used. 2. When baked, spread over the pie some syrup of apples, of pears, or syrup for _compotes_. 3. Just before serving, spread some _crème légère_ on the top, tastefully and fancifully, by means of a paper funnel, or with the pastry-bag. _Tarts and Tartelettes._--These are small pies. Instead of using a tin dish or a bakepan, you use small tin moulds, such as for _madeleines_, and proceed exactly as for pies. _Mince-Pie._--Every thing used to make a mince-pie is chopped fine, and the spices are used in powder. Prepare paste as directed for meat-pies, and make it either with or without mould. Proportions: to three pounds of beef add six pounds of beef-suet, one pound of currants, one of prunes, one of raisins, and one of apples, the rind of two lemons, two ounces of citron, and one pound of any kind of comfited fruit; nutmeg, mace, cinnamon, cloves, and sugar to taste; also wine or brandy, or both, to taste. Bake in a moderately heated oven. The fruits may be used candied or fresh, the apples fresh or dried, it is a matter of taste. Twenty kinds of fruits and meat may be used as well as three or four; there are no rules to make a mince-pie, since its compounds are not used to be tasted at all separately, but as a whole. _Pot-Pie._--Make a paste with