YOU must take two or three rabbits or chickens, skin them, and lay them in warm water, and dry them with a clean cloth.  Put them into a stew-pan with a blade or two of mace, a little black and white pepper, an onion, a little bundle of sweet-herbs, and do but just cover them with water :  stew them till they are tender, then with a fork take them out, strain the liquor, and put them in the pan again with half a pint of the liquor, and half a pint of cream, the yolks of two eggs beat well, half a nutmeg grated, a glass of white wine, a little piece of butter rolled in flour, and a gill of mushrooms ;  keep stirring all together, all the while one way, till it is smooth and of a fine thickness, and then dish it up.  Add what you please.

 Stew the chicken in the chicken broth with a bundle of sweet herbs. Remove herbs. Melt butter and fry onion in the butter.  Combine with flour. (Traditional recipes call for equal parts flour and fat.) Remove some liquid from the chicken and slowly add to flour butter mixture.  Add cream and beaten egg yolk. Slice mushrooms and add. Stir until the sauce is reduced. Add to the chicken and stir thoroughly. Add lemon juice if desired; stir well to keep from curdling. Garnish with lemon. 

A Beef-Steak Pie from Hannah Glasse’s The Art of Cookery made Plain and Easy, 1747 edition, p. 104.

Take fine rump-steaks, beat them with a rolling-pin, then season them with pepper and salt, according to your palate ; make a good crust, lay in your steaks, fill your dish, then pour in as much water as will half fill the dish ; put on the crust, and bake it well.

Beefsteak Pie from The Lady’s Assistant by Charlotte Mason, 1777 (London).

Rump steaks are the best ; season them with pepper and salt, most pepper ; puff paste top and bottom ; water to fill the dish.

Beefsteak Pie from Thomas Jefferson’s Cookbook by Marie Kimball, University of Virginia Press, Charlottesville, VA, 1976

Cut 2 pounds of beefsteak into small pieces. Stew in a little water until half done. Season with salt and pepper. Line a baking dish with puff paste, put in the steak. Season the gravy very high and pour in the dish. Cover with paste and bake until the paste is a nice brown.

Beefsteak and Kidney Pie from The Thirteen Colonies Cookbook by Mary Donovan, Amy Hatrak, Frances Mills and Elizabeth Shull, Montclair Historical Society, 1982.

This traditional English pie was a favorite of George Washington.

4 small veal kidneys                 2 bay leaves
1 cup claret wine                    Salt and pepper to taste
1 onion, sliced                      

1½ pounds rump or round steak, cut into 1 inch strips
Flour for dredging                    1 onion, diced
Bacon drippings                      

1/2 cup celery, chopped
2 cups water                          ½ cup parsley, chopped
2 tsp marjoram                        1½ cups mushrooms, sliced
Butter for sauté                      Puff paste or biscuit dough

With a sharp knife separate kidneys and remove fat and gristly membrane. Sprinkle with salt. Cover with claret, sliced onion, bay leaves, and pepper. Marinate for 2 hours. Pound strips of steak and dredge with flour. Melt bacon drippings, add diced onions, and cook until golden. Remove from skillet. In the skillet, brown the steak well. Drain kidneys, reserving marinade; dredge with flour and brown in the skillet, stirring carefully and adding bacon drippings if necessary. Add approximately 2 cups hot water and stir well. Add chopped celery, parsley, and marjoram. Simmer very slowly, covered, stirring occasionally, for about 1 hour, or until meats are tender. Sauté mushrooms in butter, straining the marinade into them. Add mixture to beef and kidneys. If gravy needs thickening, do so with flour and cold water. Pour into a deep pie dish. Cover with a crust of puff paste, or thin biscuit dough, and bake at 400º until brown, about 20 to 30 minutes. Serves 8.

The Stow Minuteman interpretation of Beef Steak Pie

2 lbs. stew beef, rump, round or chuck                                              1 large onion, chopped

Bacon drippings or other fat                                                                flour for dredging

3 cups hot water                                                                                   1½ tsp salt 
½ tsp freshly ground pepper                                                                 2 bay leaves
1 tsp Mushroom catsup or Worcestershire sauce                           1½ cup celery, chopped
Baby carrots or a couple of chopped large carrots (opt.)       1 large potato, cut into chunks (opt.)
½  cup parsley, chopped (optional)                                  ½ tsp marjoram or several sprigs of fresh
½ tsp thyme  or several sprigs of fresh   

 Puff paste or your favorite pie crust

Chop up beef into ½ – ¾ inch cubes and dredge in flour. Chop the onion. Brown beef in a stew pan or large skillet in the fat. Add onions and cook until they are translucent. Add in water, mushroom catsup or Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, bay leaves; simmer for 1 – 1 ½ hour. Add in carrots, celery, potato, parsley, marjoram and thyme. Simmer until vegetables are just barely tender. Pour into a large pie pan, cover with pastry and bake at 425º until crust is golden brown, maybe 15 or 20 minutes.

To make a Curry the Indian Way

Take two small chickens, skin them and cut them as for a fricassee, wash them clean, and stew them in about a quart of water for about five minutes, then strain off the liquor and put the chickens in a clean dish ; take three large onions, chop them small and fry them in about two ounces of butter, then put in the chickens and fry them together till they are brown ; take a quarter of an ounce of turmeric, a large spoonful of ginger and beaten pepper together, and a little salt to your palate, strew all these ingredients over the chickens whilst frying, then pour in the liquor and let it stew about half an hour, then put in a quarter of a pint of cream and the juice of two lemons, and serve it up.  The ginger, pepper, and turmeric must be beat very fine.
             
From The Art of Cookery made Plain and Easy, by Mrs. Glasse, 1805

Stow Minuteman interpretation:  

Serves about 8, generously

4 lbs. Boneless, skinless chicken, cut in 1” cubes
3 large onions, chopped
1/2-3/4 stick butter, to taste (2 oz.)
1 quart water or chicken broth
4-6 tsp. curry powder, to taste (or mix your own curry: 2-3 tsp. turmeric, 1 tsp. ginger, 1 tsp. pepper)
About 1 tsp. salt
Juice of 2 lemons
1 pint (2 cups) cream

Put chicken in a skillet or pot with the water or broth, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes, covered.  Drain off and save the liquid and set aside chicken. Sauté the onions in melted butter. Add the chicken, sprinkle the curry and salt on the chicken, and sauté until lightly browned. Pour in the reserved liquid and let it stew about half an hour, covered. Remove from heat, mix together the cream and lemon, pour over the chicken, and serve.

 6 pound chicken, cut up

Stow Minuteman Adaptation:

Use 5-6 pounds of boned chicken (or you can stew chicken with the bones) and cut it into inch or inch and a half cubes. Cover the chicken with chicken broth and add chunked celery (use several stalks), saffron, onions, salt, and peppercorns. Bring to a boil; then simmer covered until the chicken is done (test after 30 minutes). While chicken is cooking prepare potpie squares. You can use a store-bought uncooked pie crust or make your own. Cut them into pieces about an inch or so square.

In separate pot, place additional broth or use some broth from the chicken. Bring to boil, drop in potpie squares and potatoes, and cook uncovered until the squares are tender. Stir in the chicken mixture and parsley and cook until heated through. Correct seasonings. Add salt and fresh pepper if needed. The potpie can be served while the consistency is soup-like, or allow it to reduce for a stew-like consistency by simmering 10 (or maybe a lot more) minutes longer. Serves 12.

Alternatively, add everything to one pot, timing depending on how long the item takes to cook. We have done this successfully and it saves on clean up. 

Slice a chicken, either boiled or roasted, cut into thin strips or veal, if you please; slice a ham and some cheese, and cut into strips. Also slice the yokes of hard eggs very small, and mince the whites very small by themselves; Then lay in your dish your greens, a layer of meat, a layer of cheese, a layer of yolks of eggs, a layer of whites, a layer of celery hearts, a layer of anchovies and a layer of black olives.  When you have filled a dish  with ingredients, set an orange or lemon on top.