To Make Pyes is a traditional Elizabethan recipe for a classic pie of lamb with fruit. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Elizabethan version of: To Make Pyes.
To make Pyes. Pyes of mutton or beif must be fyne mynced & seasoned with pepper and salte and a lytel saffron to colour it / suet or marrow a good quantitie / a lytell vynegre / pruynes / great reasons / and dates / take the fattest of the broath of powdred beefe. And if you will have paest royall / take butter and yolkes of egges & so to temper the floure to make the paest.
Modern Redaction
Ingredients:
675g beef and/or lamb roasting joint (or mutton if you are being completely authentic), cooked and minced into very small pieces
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)
120g beef suet or marrow, diced
60ml red wine or cider vinegar
100g prunes, pitted and sliced
60g raisins
60g dates, chopped
500ml beef broth Paest royall
Method:
Combine the meat, spices, suet (or marrow), vinegar and fruit together in a large bowl. Add just enough broth to thoroughly wet the mixture — as with many meat dishes the final consistency should be a little runny. Line a 22cm pie dish with the Paest Royall and fill with the meat mixture.
Add a pastry lid (or you may leave open), pierce the lid, if using, then place the pie in an oven pre-heated to 190°C and bake for about 45 minutes to an hour, until the filling is bubbling and the pastry is a golden brown.
