Travellers Pie from Clubland Cooking by Robin McDouall
The name refers not to a journey but to the club that McDouall ran as secretary for some three decades. The recipe is a fine example of English empiricism practiced by a French chef familiar with the British culinary idiom:
“One year, when the grouse ran out and we couldn’t make grouse-and-steak any more, our chef, Monsieur Raymond Serre, invented a pie which he called Travellers’ Pie. This is how it’s done:”
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¾ lb lean veal (or turkey if squeamish about the veal)- 1 lb pork shoulder
- ¼ lb ham
- an onion
- a garlic clove
- parsley
- salt & pepper
- nutmeg
- 6 oz Amontillado Sherry
- some slices of lean veal (or turkey if squeamish)
- slices (“rashers”) of unsmoked bacon ( see the Notes)
- short pastry
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Preheat the oven to 350˚ (a “moderate oven” in Old School terminology).
“Chop the veal, pork and ham, the onion, garlic and parsley, and marinate them overnight in the sherry (with seasoning).
Line a pie-dish with the slices of veal. Put in the mixture. Cover with rashers. Moisten with stock. Put on the pastry lid and cook in a moderate oven for about two hours.”
Serve this pie hot.
Notes:
-The quotations are from page 78 of Clubland , published in London during 1974.
-Unsmoked bacon usually is marketed in the United States as Irish bacon, much of it manufactured in Queens and other domestic locations. Canadian bacon is a handy substitute.
-McDouall does not specify a grade of Sherry. Fino is the drier alternative to our Amontillado.
-The bfia recipe for piecrust appears in the practical.