SC - Shepherds Pie

[Elaine Koogler]

In a message dated 5/7/00 9:16:50 AM Eastern Daylight Time, Lorix 
<lorix at trump.net.au> writes:

<< Anyway, I was just looking for recommendations of period recipes using 
chicken
 or pork in pies (along with mixed fruit, cheese or anything else ;-) that you
 might have made & where your feasters have scoffed the lot (my definition of
 what constitutes popular & good).
  >>
On April 1, we did a feast for Northern Lights. We made a variety of meat 
pies using the flour and water dough from Medieval Kitchen (recipe copy 
follows) and filled with the suggested mix from A Boke of Gode Cookery 
(online!)(recipe copy follows). We made 8x8 inch square pies, but smaller 
ones would work as well. And DO use those stamps, that's how we identified 
the pie varieties; feasters loved the little cutout critters on the pies. 
Enjoy!
Aelfwyn

153. Doughs for Pates, Pies and Tarts
A. Flour and Water Dough
1 3/4 cups four (250g)
5 fl. ounces water (~15 cl)
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 scant tsp. salt (I preferred less)

    Combine all the ingredients and knead vigorously until a smooth, somewhat 
elastic and rather soft dough is formed. If the dough is too moist, you can 
knead in a little additional flour. Wrap in a moist towel. and leave to rest 
in the refrigerator for at least an hour before using. 
    My notes: this is a very stretchy dough (think pizza crust). Be sure to 
use a floured board to roll. I found my hands worked much better than a 
rolling pin. This dough doesn't rise much in the baking, but does get very 
hard. We were able to easily remove the pies from the foil baking tins for 
service. It absorbs some of the filling liquid and that makes it rather 
yummy. I preferred the taste with about 1/2 the suggested salt. We made all 
dough in the Kitchen Aid with no problems. FYI: We also needed a dough to 
make peacock necks and heads as part of this feast, this dough worked well 
because we could mold the shapes we wanted and they grew very little when 
baked. 

Recipe for Basic Meat Pie
A Boke of Gode Cookery
1998 James L. Matterer

1 1/2 lb. meat (beef, pork, rabbit, poultry, venison or any combination) 
parboiled and in small chunks
4 egg yolks
1/2 to 1 cup meat broth (final mixture should be rather wet)
splash or red or white wine
1 to 2 cups total of any of the following, separate or in combination (minced 
dates, currants, raisins, minced figs, ground nuts, grated cheese)
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 Tbsp. total of any of the following spices, separate or in combination 
(ginger, allspice, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, cardamom, cubebs, galingale)

    Mix well all ingredients. Place in pie shells, top with pastry lids. Bake 
in a 350*F oven 45 minutes to 1 hour or until the pastry is golden brown and 
the filling is set. Serve hot or cold. Makes 1 8 or 9" pie.

    My notes; do be sure the filling is rather wet, it may overflow a bit, 
but will keep the filling from tasting too dry. Very yummy. We made beef, 
pork, rabbit, venison and just veggie varieties.