[Sca-cooks] period cream puffs?

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

On Apr 12, 2008, at 1:18 AM, Stefan li Rous wrote:
> Bear replied to me with:
>
>> What you missed the Pies of Paris and other filled pastry dishes?
>
> Well, I at least missed the interpretation of these as a puff pastry,

Actually, what you did was draw a distinction between stuffed breads  
and stuffed pastry, but apparently forgot that pies are in the overall  
set of stuffed pastry. Hey, look below ;-).

>  ie: a layer of dough concocted and fried in such a way as to puff up
> such that it could then be filled.

Usually pate a choux [choux paste / cream puff batter] is baked, but  
it can be fried. So can puff pastry [millefeuille -- the rolled-out,  
layered stuff].

> I thought the Pies of Paris, and
> the other filled pastry dishes, were more like pies, a layer of dough
> filled with a filling and then another layer placed on top of them
> and sealed, but with no significant puffing.

They are, but I believe there was a little misunderstanding.

> Thank you Helewyse for posting that recipe and your redaction. I
> probably would have missed that as being a puffed pastry since I
> thought a frittour was more of a lumpy dough (things in the dough)
> and then fried, again without significant puffing.

Actually, most fritters will puff up to some extent: between steam  
from liquid, eggs and such, and any leavening that may be present,  
there's going to be water vapor or other gases that will expand in the  
sudden rise of temperature when the fritter goes into the hot oil. But  
pate a choux puffs up pretty dramatically.

> But the deep in
> the recipe, it does say "and when the fritters begin to be cooked
> they will crack,because by nature they puff up and become like  
> medlars."
>
> Stefan
>
>> Oh? I don't remember anything like this being discussed here before.
>> Stuffed bread, yes. But not stuffed pastry. What are you basing this
>> on? Do you have a period recipe? Can you please post your redaction
>> (s)? These sound like they might make a good item for a sideboard or
>> breakfast.
>>
>> Thanks,
>>  Stefan

Adamantius






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