Mix to this quantity of meat, two gallons of chopped apples, four pounds
of raisins, half a gallon of boiled molasses, a pint of currant wine, a
tea-cup of rose brandy, an ounce of cinnamon, orange peel and mace, from
two to four nutmegs, and sweet cider enough to make it the right
thickness; if the cider is not sweet, put in more molasses; when all is
mixed, it is best to bake a small pie, as you can alter the seasoning,
if it is not to your taste. If you have not raisins, dried cherries or
small grapes, that have been preserved in molasses, are very good, or
stewed dried apples, instead of green; and where you have no cider, stew
the apples in plenty of water, so as to have them very soft; a little
good vinegar, sweetened and mixed with water, also does instead of
cider, but is not so good.

This will make about forty pies, and if you have a convenient way of
keeping them, you may bake all at once, as they will keep for two months
very readily when the weather is cold. If you do not bake all at once,
put what is left in a jar, cover the top with melted suet, and over this
put a piece of white paper, with a tea-cup of spirits poured on the
top; tie it up and keep it where it will not freeze. Where persons have
a large family, and workmen on a farm, these pies are very useful.


Rhubarb Pie.

Peel the stalks, cut them in small pieces, and stew them till very soft
in a little water; when done, mash and sweeten with sugar; set it away
to cool; make a puff paste, and bake as other pies. Some prefer it
without stewing, cutting the stems in small pieces, and strewing sugar
over them before the crust is put on. These pies will lose their fine
flavor after the first day. They take less sugar than gooseberries.