The 1901 Cookbook Archive

Section XI: Pies and Pâtés — Filled Pies, Pastry Doughs and Historical Pâtés

Full English translation of the historical introduction, notes, proportions and methods for Section XI: pies and pâtés. The original recipe numbering is preserved, and all numbered recipes are available in English.

Historical text, fully translated: The sections and introductory notes below follow the original 1901 chapter in their printed order, including old units and historical practices. The numbered recipes are listed in English after the chapter notes. Period advice is presented as archival text, not as modern food-safety or medical guidance.

A. PIES.

General note. 1) Pies should be oblong. For six to eight people a pie should be about the size of half a sheet of writing paper, or just a little shorter.

2) Pies are baked with fresh or lightly salted fish, to which rice, sago, viziga, semolina or cabbage and the like may be added; or without fish, using only rice, sago, cabbage, fresh or dried mushrooms, carrots, cooked buckwheat porridge, and similar fillings.

3) Pie dough is made in various ways, as explained below, beginning with recipe No. 1372.

4) The pie itself is prepared as follows. When, for example, yeast dough has been mixed and has risen, knead it and roll it out with a rolling pin without adding more flour, merely dusting it lightly. Fold it in four, transfer it to a napkin or directly to a baking sheet, whose center should be buttered, and unfold the dough. Put the prepared filling onto it and fold in all four edges so that the pie has a regular oblong rectangular shape, as shown in the illustration in Section XXXVII. Pinch the dough neatly along the middle and at the ends, and let it rise for about half an hour. Brush only the top, not the sides, with butter mixed with egg yolk and half a spoonful of water. Put it into a hot oven for half an hour; a large fish pie may need a full hour.

Figure No. 2 shows the shape of a Russian pie, attractively pinched along the seam.

5) Some people prefer a thin, dry crust and a great deal of filling; others prefer more dough. In the latter case, allow more flour.

6) In general, the filling must be juicy. To prevent the bottom crust of a puff-pastry pie from becoming heavy and underbaked, cover it with a layer of the thinnest pancakes, fried on both sides.

7) The filling must be completely cold.

8) When pinching a pie shut, overlap one edge of the dough slightly over the other along the middle so that the dough will not tear. Moisten the edges lightly with water as you pinch them together, including the ends. For a neater appearance the pie is sometimes turned over with its seam underneath, but properly it should have an attractive seam on top, along the middle and at the ends.

9) A copper baking sheet is preferable to an iron one, on which a pie is more likely to burn.

10) For a puff-pastry pie, do not grease the baking sheet; instead, dampen the cold sheet slightly with water. For a yeast-dough pie, grease it lightly with butter and wipe it with paper.

11) Lift the pie together with its napkin, turn it onto the baking sheet, and straighten it so that it has an even shape.

12) If the pie is made with puff pastry, keep it in a cold place, brush the top with egg, and move it directly from the cold into a hot oven. If it is yeast dough, do not take it into the cold: let it rise on the baking sheet, brush it with egg yolk mixed with half a spoonful of water and butter, and put it immediately into a hot oven. First make openings at the ends and in the middle to release the steam, so that the upper crust will not sweat and become wet.

13) When the pie is browned, reduce the heat to medium so that it will bake evenly, and sprinkle it with finely crushed breadcrumbs. If one end of the oven is hotter, carefully turn the pie around.

14) A pie without fish bakes for 30–40 minutes; one with fish takes about an hour so that the fish is not raw, which would make the pie unsuitable to serve.

15) If the oven is poor and the dough begins burning on top, cover the pie with a clean, dry, unprinted sheet of paper.

16) The filling inside the pie must boil; according to this instruction, when steam begins to come out of the pie it is ready.

17) On removing it from the oven, transfer it carefully to a serving dish and serve immediately.

18) If the pie is ready early, take it out of the oven and cover it with a napkin, but in a single layer only; alternatively, to keep it warm, leave it at the very edge of the oven with the oven doors open.

19) Serve butter separately with pies made from lean yeast dough.

20) Clean and wash the fish thoroughly, split it open, remove every bone, salt it, sprinkle with a little ground ordinary pepper, and wrap it tightly in a napkin for one hour. When assembling the pie, place the filling on the dough first, then the fish split into two halves on top. Arrange the two rows so that the broad end of the fish in one row lies opposite the end that starts at the tail in the other.

21) If fresh whitefish is used in a pie, the removed head, tail and bones can be made into a full plate of strong ukha (fish soup) for breakfast.

22) Sago for pies is prepared as follows.

Cover the sago with cold water in the evening. In the morning drain it, put the sago in a saucepan, pour over a relatively large quantity of salted boiling water and bring it straight to a boil, stirring with a spoon. When the grains have softened but have not boiled to pieces, drain them in a colander or sieve and rinse with cold water. Once all the water has run off, place the sago in an earthenware bowl; add salt, good butter, chopped hard-boiled eggs, chopped viziga, pepper and herbs, and mix. Spread half the filling over the rolled-out dough, arrange the fish above it, add the rest of the filling and cover with dough. Let it rise, brush with egg and bake for three quarters of an hour to one hour. Spring onions go well with sago.

23) Rice is prepared as follows. Wash it in cold water and drain. Add fresh, cold, salted water barely sufficient to cover it, and cook until soft. Drain in a sieve, rinse with cold water and let the water run off completely. Transfer the rice to an earthenware bowl, add butter, hard-boiled eggs and whatever else is needed for the particular pie. For three glasses of water, use a spoonful of salt.

24) Viziga is prepared as follows. Soak it in cold water from the previous evening or early morning. During the day cover it with plenty of fresh cold water, add two onions and a bunch of herbs, cover the saucepan and put it over a high heat. When it comes to a boil, reduce the heat and cook until soft, adding boiling water if required. Once the viziga is entirely soft, drain it in a sieve, rinse with cold water, let it drain and chop it finely.

Pie dough.

Note. The principal rules for yeast dough used in pies are as follows:

1) For lean dough, use approximately one pound of fine flour for every glass of water mixed with yeast. I say 'approximately' because a precise measure is impossible: flour varies in quality and in how dry it is. If butter and eggs are added to the dough, use less than one glass of water per pound of flour.

2) For a pie serving six to eight people, one and a half pounds of flour is sufficient; this quantity will make eight large portions or 15–18 small pies.

3) For every pound of flour allow a well-filled teaspoon of salt and up to two zolotniks of dry yeast. Dissolve the yeast in a quarter-glass of water, add a teaspoon of flour, mix and let it begin fermenting slightly before mixing the dough. If the dough must be made quickly, dissolve the yeast in warm water and begin mixing after fifteen minutes. If the dough is to be started early in the morning, the yeast may be mixed with cold water and flour the preceding evening and left overnight in a room at an ordinary temperature, taking care that it does not sour.

B. PÂTÉS.

Note. Pâtés are served both hot and cold. Hot pâtés are served enclosed, while cold ones are served open.

Pâté pastry is prepared in different ways: puff pastry, scalded or choux-type dough, and short, crumbly pastry, as described below. Lean yeast dough is used for meatless pâtés; for an open cold pâté, pastry may also be made from rye flour mixed in equal parts with wheat flour. See recipe No. 1408.

The proportions are calculated for six to eight people.

For nine to twelve people, increase the quantities one and a half times.

For thirteen to eighteen people, double the quantities.

For nineteen to twenty-four people, triple the quantities.

Numbered recipes in English

All 68 numbered recipes are listed in the exact order of the original chapter; individual English translations retain the original numbers.

Recipes 1372–1403

Recipes 1404–1435

Recipes 1436–1439

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