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Pie-crusts

A set of pie crust recipes using wheatmeal, butter, eggs, and milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Why it works: Milk and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 88,785 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Pie-crusts

Ingredients

Directions

Make the paste

  1. Rub the butter into the meal.

  2. Add enough water to the paste to keep it together, mixing with a knife.

  3. Roll out and use.

  4. Mix the meal and mashed potatoes.

  5. Rub in the butter and the oil.

  6. Add enough milk to moisten the paste, mixing with a knife only.

  7. Roll out as required.

Make the egg paste

  1. Rub the butter into the meal.

  2. Beat the eggs well.

  3. Mix the eggs with the meal.

  4. Add enough cold milk to make a firm paste.

  5. Roll out and use.

  6. Mix the ingredients as in (3).

  7. Moisten the paste with milk.

  8. Roll it out.

Laminate with butter

  1. Rub 1/2 lb. of butter into the meal.

  2. Add enough cold water to make a stiff paste.

  3. Roll it out.

  4. Spread the paste with some of the other butter.

  5. Roll the paste up.

  6. Roll it out again.

  7. Spread with more butter.

  8. Roll up again.

  9. Repeat about 3 times until all the butter is used up.

  10. Use for pie-crust, etc., and bake in a quick oven.

Sago crust and fruit tarts

  1. Let the sago swell out over the fire with milk and water.

  2. Mix it with the meal and butter.

  3. Roll the paste out and use.

  4. Rub the butter well into the meal.

  5. Moisten with the milk (taking a little more than 1 gill if necessary).

  6. Roll out and use according to requirements.

  7. Special recipes for every kind of fruit tart are not given, as the same rules apply to all.

  8. For the crust either of the recipes given for pie-crusts may be used, and the fruit tarts can be made either open, with a bottom crust only, with top and bottom crust, or with a top crust only.

  9. When any dried fruit is used, like prunes, dried apricots, apple-rings, etc., these should first be stewed till tender, and sweetened if necessary, and allowed to cool; then place as much of the fruit as is required into your tart, cover it with a crust, and bake until the crust is done.

  10. If an open tart is made, only very little juice should be used, as it would make the crust heavy.

  11. Summer fruit, like strawberries, raspberries, currants, cherries, and gooseberries need not be previously cooked. Mix the fruit with the necessary sugar, and if the tart is made with a top crust only, a little water can be added and an egg cup or a little tea cup should be placed in the pie-dish upside down to keep up the crust.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

346Calories
14 gProtein
27 gFat
13 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 3 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Egg1 large egg (50g)78

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By T. R. Allinson. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Butter (in the method)
Rubbed into the meal and layered in the paste, it makes the crust short and flaky.
Meal (in the method)
Its starch and gluten form the main structure of the crust.
Eggs
Beaten eggs bind the paste and add richness.
Milk
Moistens the paste so the dough holds together.
Oil
Adds fat that keeps the crust tender.

The step that matters

Adding the liquid and handling the paste. Add the water or milk only until the paste just holds together, then roll gently. Too much liquid or overworking develops gluten and makes the crust tough, and too much juice makes an open tart heavy.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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