Suet Crust for Meat Pies
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the dough
Remove the skin from the suet and shred it into fine flakes.
In a bowl, combine the suet and flour, mixing well.
Add the salt and baking powder, then gradually mix in enough water to form a fairly stiff paste.
Knead lightly, then roll out the paste.
Use the crust
Use the rolled-out paste for any kind of pie intended to be eaten hot.
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.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Flour
- Forms the main structure of the crust once mixed with water.
- Suet
- Adds fat that keeps the crust rich and tender as it cooks.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas to help the crust rise and lighten slightly.
The step that matters
Mixing in the water. Adding water gradually and stopping at a fairly stiff paste matters because too much liquid makes the gluten in the flour develop excessively, producing a tough crust rather than a tender one.
“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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