Vintage Recipe Thursday: "--and when the pie is opened..."

Thanks to Mariana at Vintage Ads, who generously let me use this image on my blog!

I don't think the illustrator for this ad from 1924 had read the recipe--first off, the recipe makes a (delicious) biscuit topping; secondly, there are no carrots in the recipe; thirdly, there are peas in the recipe and not in the illustration! Oh, well! It's an awesome ad anyway. I adapted the recipe a bit to make it for two people and to add carrots. I also didn't use the cooked onion in the pie, even though I use an onion when I make my chicken stock. The carrots are from making the stock and the potatoes are from my roast chicken recipe.  You can follow this recipe for making chicken stock from a whole bird (or use scraps from a roast chicken). Just make sure you use 2 carrots per pie, instead of just one carrot.

I was really pleased to find this web site, because I was able to find out what size the 465 pudding dish was: 1 1/2 quarts (it's on the second page). I wish Pyrex still made all those items!

Pyrex Chicken Pie

Filling
1 cup chicken stock*
½ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon flour
1 cup shredded cooked chicken
½ cup peas
¾ cup cooked potato, cut into bite-sized pieces
2 cooked carrots, sliced into bite-sized pieces

Biscuit Topping
½ cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 ½ teaspoons lard
2 tablespoons milk

Preheat oven to 375˚ Fahrenheit.

Add the chicken stock and salt to a saucepan. Turn the heat to high and whisk the tablespoon of flour with a tablespoon of cold water, then whisk the mixture into the stock. Add the chicken, peas, potatoes and carrots to the stock and bring to a boil.

Meanwhile, make the biscuit topping. In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Work in the lard with your fingers until the mixture resembles sand. Then, add the milk, a bit at a time (you may not need all of it) until dough comes together. Shape into a disc that is ½” thick. Set aside.

When the filling has come to a boil, pour into a one-quart capacity ovenproof dish that has been placed on a baking sheet. Top with the biscuit topping and bake, in the middle of the oven, 30 to 35 minutes, or until topping starts to brown.

2 servings

*Homemade is best--be sure to use unsalted stock. If that isn’t possible, adjust the amount of salt as required.

Download and print

*****

Here are two 1924 movies from Internet Archive, which is an internet home for public domain media. Felix Goes West is a short cartoon in which everyone's favorite smart-aleck bipedal cat goes (you guessed it) West. Be prepared for a serious lack of political correctness. Sherlock, Jr. is a cute Buster Keaton film that only runs 44 minutes. In it, an inept movie projectionist (Keaton), who wants to be a detective, is wrongly accused of stealing a pocket watch.  

Felix Goes West (Pat Sullivan, 1924)


Sherlock Jr. (Buster Keaton, 1924)

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