Chop finely the meat of the tail and claws of a hen lobster; pound some of the spawn, with ½ oz. of butter, and a little meat gravy or jelly, or a table-spoonful of cream; season with cayenne, salt, lemon peel, and essence of anchovy.
Top and tail fruit enough to fill your dish; lay a strip of paste round the edge, put in half the fruit, then half the sugar, the rest of the fruit, more sugar, and cover with a good puff paste. Mark the edges neatly, and ornament the top. When it comes out of the oven, sift powdered sugar over.—First put a little cup in the centre of the dish, to preserve the juice.
When old and stringy, peel the skin off, cut the stalks slantways, and make it into a pie, the same as gooseberry: if young, do not peel it.—Some like lemon peel in it.
Red currants, raspberries, ripe gooseberries, cherries, plums, all sorts of damsons, apricots, and peaches, make excellent pies; allow plenty of sugar, put in a little cup, and fill the dish high in the middle with fruit. Divide the apricots and peaches.
The fruit should be stewed till tender in a very little water and some sugar; baked in a pie dish with a covering of puff paste, and is an excellent tart.
Russetings, ribstone pippins, and such apples as are a little acid, are best. Pare, core, and slice them; sprinkle sugar between, as you put them in the dish, also a little pounded cinnamon and cloves. Slices of quince are an improvement, or quince marmalade, or candied citron or orange peel. Put a strip of paste round the edge of the dish, and