Modern Cookery
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Shape the crust
Shape the paste into a sugar loaf.
Place it upright on the table.
Flatten the sides evenly with your palms until smooth.
Squeeze the middle down to half the height.
Hollow the inside with your fingers, keeping equal thickness.
Fill and close
Fill the hollow with your desired filling.
Roll out a cover for the pie.
Egg the edges.
Press them together securely.
Make a hole in the center.
Lay a roll of paste around it.
Decorate and bake
Decorate with leaves or other ornaments.
Glaze the pie with the beaten egg yolk.
Bake in a well-heated oven at 400°F (200°C) for 2-3 hours if small, or 4-5 hours if large.
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
- Paste
- Forms the structural shell that holds the filling and keeps its shape during baking.
- Egg yolk
- Browns the surface during baking and gives the glaze a glossy finish.
The step that matters
Hollow the inside with equal thickness. Uneven walls bake unevenly, so thin spots may burn or leak while thick areas stay raw. Keeping the wall even lets the crust set uniformly around the filling.
“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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