The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1907-10-05
CONCERNING THE CLAM PIE.
Details Of Making and Manner OF Bak-
ina the Tom Sawyer.

Details Of Making and Manner of Bak
ing the Tom Sawyer.
What? You didn't know they ever
put potatoes in clam pies Why!
They always do; always; only said
man who knows all about clam pies,
there's right ways Of doing it, and
wrong ways.
Some people put boiled mashed
potatoes into clam pie, which, OF
course, is wrong; and then some peo-
pie put in potatoes cut into cubes or
dice, which is foolish and frivolous
and out of keeping with the clam.
The real way to fix potatoes for a
clam pie is to take medium-sized po-
tatoes and peel 'em and then cut
them into not very thick strips OF
uniform thickness, so that they'll
look nice in the pie and so that they'll
all cook alike.
"And then some people chop up the
clans for clam pie, a terrible mis-
take to make. Chopping the clans
messes 'em all up, and that way you
lose half the juices Of the clans, lost
in the chopping bowl. The true way
to fix the clans is this: You take
medium-sized clans of uniform size
and lay them on a board and slice
them into pieces not too small; they
look better that way, and they are
better, and so they taste better.
"Of course, you have for the pie
number OF thin and narrow strips Of
pork of the sort that has streak OF
lean in it; and when you have got all
the ingredients ready. composing. so
to speak, the pie stuff, you cook them
all together. partly, enough so that
when you come to put this filling IN
the pie and put the pie in the oven
to bake, the baking will bring the
whole pie out cooked perfectly.
Now, Of course, there are all sorts
of clam pies; small individual clam
pies, and pies cooked in dishes OF
various larger sizes, to be cut up and
served: and different people may
have different notions about what
size and shape is best for dishes to
cook clam pies in; but the best clam
pies l ever ate were cooked In dish
about fifteen inches in diameter by
about three and a half inches.
1.-The pies baked in this dish were
made with no bottom crust. but with
a crust all around the walls Of the
dish, and of course, the crust on top.
And whenever a clam pie was baked
in this dish there was brought into
use with it a teacup which was es'
pecially reserved for this purpose only
and which was used in the manner
that l will now describe to you.
This teacup was very deep cup.
or a very tall cup when you turned
it over, bottom up, and made of thin
china And when the filling was In
the pie and it was all ready to put on
the top crust that tall, thin cup was
set in the centre Of the pie, bottom
up, and then the top crust, win hole
in it of exactly the right size at the
centre, was put on the pie, leaving
now the bottom, or as we now have
it placed, the top of the cup, project
ing up at the centre above the top
crust like a little dome.
"The object of the dome? Why. as
the pie bakes the steam within, or a
good part of it, rises not to saturate
the top crust and make that soggy.
but it rises in the cup, to be con-
densed in the dome and go back with
all its flavor and richness into the pie
itself, making the filling rich and ell
egant, as it ought to be. While the
crust remained nice and light; and
then when you came to eat your por-
ton or portions of this clam pie you
could break up that nice light crust
and sop it in the juices of the pie II
you wanted to.
"And when you get hold Of clam
pie built like that. why, then you be-
gin to realize what a great JOY real
clam pie can be."-New York Sun.