SC - Boiling chicken

[Diana Skaggs]

Jessica Tiffin wrote:
> 
> There was a discussion a couple of weeks back about recipes in Taillevent
> and Form of Curye for a subtlety with a pasty castle filled with various
> fillings.  I had a go at an extrapolation from this idea 
<snip>
> - the effect was rather fun.
> 
> The major problem I had, though, was in the texture of the pastry.  It was
> basically just a paste of flour and water, but there was no way I could get
> it into a cylinder while it was still raw - it was too soft, and would not
> stand up at all.  I didn't have anything of the right size to use as a
> "roller", as the Form of Curye recipe specified; I ended up parcooking the
> pastry  flat on a baking tray, and then bending it into shape when it had
> hardened slightly - not ideal, as it then tended to crack, and it was very
> difficult to join the cylinder (more toothpicks...)
> 
> Does anyone have any ideas on making a more robust pastry, or cunning plans
> for shaping the stuff raw?  I'd like to try this again, it was fun to do and
> went down well with the Shire

Well, the recipe, if I remember it correctly, does tell us to make it stiff!
The simplest solution might be to make a really really really stiff
flour-and-water dough, or flour-and-egg-yolk dough. Draft the nearest 300-lb
fighter for kneading! This appears likely to have been the period solution to
this problem. Another might be to rethink the proportions of a castle as seen
through the eyes of people who actually lived in, or spent time in them. Most
aren't in the proportions of the castle in Disneyland. Is there any chance you
were a bit too ambitious on your proportions? (No need to answer this, it was
just a point I thought might need addressing.) The recipe also says to dry it
in the sun or bake it, so maybe a really low oven might be effective at
stiffening the dough without causing it to lose structural integrity. I'm
talking about a temperature of 100 degrees Celsius or less.

As for modernish alternatives, one might be a hot water and lard pastry, such
as is used for various meat pies in the U.K. I generally use Hillary
Spurling's recipe found in her edition of "Elinor Fettiplace's Receipt Book",
my copy of which seems to have mysteriously vanished. I vaguely recall it
calls for a pound of plain or AP flour, five ounces of lard, nine ounces of
water, and some salt, I forget how much. Bear, Aoife, how far off am I here? 
You bring the lard and the water to a boil in a saucepan, pour it into a well
in your flour, in a mixing bowl, and stir until mixed. As soon as it's cool
enough to handle you knead it until it's a smooth, homogeneous pastry dough.
While it's still warm, it is pliable, but when it cools, it stiffens up
somewhat, so it's good for free-standing pies, baked outside of pie pans.
However, it also works best when it has some added support, such as a filling
inside, when it bakes. Some might even go far enough to wrap a belly-band of
foil or parchment around it while it bakes.

Finally, the other thing you can do is use any pastry you want, just about,
baked "blind" in something like a coffee can with the top and bottom removed,
on a cookie sheet, with the can lined with pastry, the pastry lined with foil
or parchment, and filled with something like rice, dried beans, or metal "pie
beans". Bake, allow it to cool, remove the beans, whatever you've used, the
foil or parchment liner, and very carefully lift the can off the pastry.
Ridges in the can shouldn't be a problem; your pastry is likely to shrink
somewhat in baking. Flat walls can be baked on another cookie sheet, and
everything can be attached together with something like Royal Icing (which,
BTW, occurs at least as far back as the 17th century) for sweet pies, and
something like softened meat glaze for savory ones. Not to mention the
occasonal toothpick... .

Adamantius
Østgardr, East
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com
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