[Sca-cooks] colored tart lids, was Re: Cookcon

[Cindy M. Renfrow]

>If this is something that would stand alone rather than being an
>appendix to another article, I might suggest writing it for the
>Florilegium. :-)

Can your Florilegium handle pictures, Stefan? (I've been invited to do
these at Pennsbury Manor next month in their stone oven, & I want to show
some pictures of the process. )If not, I think I'll do it as a web page,
but here is a brief description.

>But if you are quick enough perhaps Mem can get it into the
>CooksCon2 proceedings. (Which I've already ordered, by the way)

She's already "gone to press". Alas! I had no time to write this up
properly before the conference.

>Colored tart lids? I'm not sure exactly what we are talking
>about here. I hope it's not hats....

Bad boy. They're removable pie top-crusts, colored with baked-on jellies of
assorted colors. If you look in Robert May's "The Accomplisht Cook", you
will see he has diagrams for "cut-laid tarts". A few of these specifically
say they are to be colored tarts (but I haven't found detailed directions
from him). "Banquetting Stuffe" mentions these, too (pp.82, 91). The plain
top crusts of tarts were sometimes cut off & replaced with reusable
decorated ones for service.

Robert May uses both short crust or hot water pastry for these. For
convenience I used pre-made pie shells for the conference. The first ones
into the oven puffed up, which they were not supposed to do, so we pricked
the others with a fork before baking them. This worked fine.

The method is fairly simple.

Separate an egg. Mix the yolk with a teaspoon of milk (or not) & set aside.
Mix the white with a teaspoon of water & set aside.

Roll out your dough. If you want a raised-up lid, instead of a flat one,
drape the dough on the *outside* of a pierced pie tin & smooth it down. If
you want a flat lid, place an appropriatly-sized circle of dough on a
pierced pizza pan (allow a little extra dough for shrinkage). (The piercing
is important because this allows the dough to dry better in the oven.)

Brush the dough with eggwhite. Using extra strips of dough, make a pattern
on the lid.  (Robert May gives several patterns.) The strips serve to show
the pattern as well as to keep the jellies separated, one from the other
(think stained glass window). Make sure there are no gaps for the jelly to
seep through.

The eggwhite serves as glue & helps seal the crust. Brush the crust all
over again with eggwhite before baking.

Bake at 400 degrees F. for about 10 to 15 minutes, or until the crust looks
a little golden, and is slightly firm to the touch. You don't want it to
brown. Take it out of the oven & let it cool. Reduce the oven temperature
to 350 degrees.

Melt some different colored jellies in small cups. Use a toy paintbrush, a
tiny spoon, or a feather to put a modest amount of jelly in each pastry
'compartment'. A thin layer of jelly about 1/8 inch thick is sufficient.
Don't overfill the compartments, or the jelly will leak.

Bake the colored crust for about 10 minutes and remove it from the oven.
Let it cool.

Using a toy paintbrush, highlight the pattern with the egg yolk mixture.
Bake another 10 minutes & remove from oven. When cool, if necessary, you
can repeat the egg yolk wash and return it to the oven for another 10
minutes.

Now you want to dry it out slowly. You can put it in & out of the oven
several more times, or put it in the oven & turn off the oven, or place it
on a wire rack, or do whatever you usually do to dry a baked item.

Tip: remove the raised-up pie shell from the pan as soon as it is firm
enough to handle. It will shrink as it dries, & will crack if left on the
pan.

These can be stored unwrapped in a dry place. I kept mine in the cold oven
for 3 weeks (before I got tired of looking at it & threw it away) and it
dried out completely. Even the jelly was dry & not sticky to the touch.

Regards,

Cindy