Irish Pie

No. 32 Irish Pie
16 1/2 lbs. Meat
4 lbs. flour
1 lb. suet
2 lbs black pudding
2 lbs onions
4 lbs potatoes
Cut the meat from the bone into slices lengthways, and slanting against the grain, beat it well, cut the fat into pieces of about one inch in thickness, cut the puddings, onions, and potatoes into slices, place a layer of meat in the bottom of the dish, season with pepper and salt, then a layer of pudding and onion, another of meat seasoned, another of pudding and onion, until all is used, then add the slices of potatoes, and 12 Ibs. of water. Make some paste with the flour as follows : Chop up the suet or fat from the meat very fine, and roll it. Place 3 Ibs. of flour on the table, make a hole in the middle, throw in a little salt, and if the flour is good, a pint of water, mix it lightly; when well mixed, and it forms a smooth paste, sprinkle some flour on the table, roll out the paste half an inch thick, sprinkle some flour over the paste, take one-third of the suet, and distribute it over the paste, turn the paste over in two folds, throw some more flour over the table, and roll the paste out half-an-inch thick, throw some more flour over the paste, fold and roll again, and repeat this once more; now add one-third of the suet as before, fold and roll again three times ; then add the remainder of the suet, fold and roll again three times; it will thus have been folded and rolled nine times, and all the suet and flour will have been used, it should then be left in a cold place for ten minutes, then rolled out, and the pie covered.
This way of making paste is good for all kinds of paste, either made of butter, lard, or dripping, intended to be baked; the only care must be, in the first instance, when the water is mixed with the flour, the paste must be of the same hardness as the butter, &c. One pound of paste made in this manner is equal to two pounds made in any other way. The pie should not be made longer than half-an-hour before it is placed in the oven, and the oven must not be too hot, if so it is better to cover the pie with paper. The pie should first be placed in a hot part of' the oven, to prevent ihe fat becoming greasy and melting; then after about five minutes, placed in a cooler part to cook more slowly. In all meat pies a hole should be made in the paste to allow the unwholesome gas generated by the confined meat cooking to escape.

Instructions to Military cooks in the Preparation of Dinners at the Instructional kitchen Aldershot, War Office, 1878. p.37..

St. Patrick's Soup

No.15 St. Patrick's Soup

6lbs meat and fat
6llbs. potatoes.
1 lb onions
1 lb. celery
1lb turnip
1lb carrot
1 large cabbage
1 lb. flour
6 ozs. salt
6ozs. sugar
6 tablespoons full of vinegar
3 1/2 gallons water
Cut the meat into pieces one inch square, the fat into smaller pieces ; place them in the boiler; when warm add the vegetables (except the potatoes) cut very small, stir them round so that they do not burn; when they are on the point of doing so add the water by degrees ; peel the potatoes, put them in a net, and place them in the boiler; when done take them out and mash them; after the soup has been boiling two hours add the potatoes, with the seasoning and flour mixed, and the vinegar ; boil slowly for thirty minutes, keep stirring it, and serve. The remainder of the meat may be either stewed or roasted.

Instructions to Military cooks in the Preparation of Dinners at the Instructional kitchen Aldershot, War Office, 1878. p.31.

Irish Method of Egg Preservation

The Irish plan of smearing fresh-laid eggs with butter answers well for a limited time, but is insufficient to keep them through the winter

Wholesome fare: a sanitary cookbook, comprising the laws of food and the practice of cookery and embodying the best British and continental receipts with hints and useful suggestions for the sedentary, the sick, and the convalescent,Edmund S. Delamere, Ellen J. Delamere Crosby Lockwood, 1878, p308,

Red Dulse

Red Dulse, or Dillisk—Rhodymeniapalmata (Harvey's Atlas, Pl . XLI. Figs. 189 and 190). Another Seaweed, mostly eaten uncooked as a salad, no doubt with benefit to the general health.
At first sight, Harvey's Synopsis of British Seaweeds tells us, it will scarcely be supposed that the specimens selected for the illustration of this species belong to the same plant; and yet these figures by no means exhibit the extreme of variation; for there are varieties more simple than the one, and more finely divided than the other.
When such varieties are seen in a dried state in the herbarium, they appear so different that one may anticipate much difficulty in tracing the limits of the species. But on the shore, the collector experiences no such difficulty. If he has once seen and tasted a piece of Dulse, the characters, irrespective of form, are too well marked to allow of his puzzling himself with mere variations in outline; and, what is very remarkable, the broad and the slightly divided varieties may often be found growing side by side with the finely cut narrow ones.
In Ireland and Scotland, this plant is much used by the poor, as a relish with their food. It is commonly dried in its unwashed state, and eaten raw, the flavour being brought out by long chewing. On many parts of the west coast of Ireland, it forms the only addition to potatoes in the meals of the poorest class. The variety which grows on mussel-shells between tide-marks is preferred, being less tough than the other forms; and the minute mussel-shells and other small shell-fish which adhere to its folds are nowise unpleasing to the consumers of this simple luxury, who rather seem to enjoy the additional gout imparted by the crunched mussels. In the Mediterranean, this plant is used in a cooked form, entering into ragouts and made dishes; and it forms a chief ingredient in one of the soups recommended, under the name of St. Patrick's Soup, by M. Soyer to the Irish peasantry.


Wholesome fare: a sanitary cookbook, comprising the laws of food and the practice of cookery and embodying the best British and continental receipts with hints and useful suggestions for the sedentary, the sick, and the convalescent,Edmund S. Delamere, Ellen J. Delamere Crosby Lockwood, 1878, p.680.

Irish Butter Melted

Melted Butter, Irish Fashion, is simply made by melting the butter in milk, without the addition of any flour.

Wholesome fare: a sanitary cookbook, comprising the laws of food and the practice of cookery and embodying the best British and continental receipts with hints and useful suggestions for the sedentary, the sick, and the convalescent,Edmund S. Delamere, Ellen J. Delamere Crosby Lockwood, 1878, p.105.