Posted on 12/15/2017 4:39:44 PM PST by Jamestown1630
While enduring a ‘bug’ this week that left me unable to do much but sleep or sit in front of the TV, I happened upon Clarissa Dickson Wright’s series, ‘Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner’, which you can find on YouTube, and which is a really interesting history of how our 'three squares', and the ways we partake of them, have evolved over time.
In the Lunch episode, she featured a pasty (yes, no 'r') crust design, executed by food scholar Ivan Day. This was so beautiful, I had to find the design, and know more about it.
On the way, I found some interesting stuff – including Day's great website on historic food:
http://www.historicfood.com/portal.htm
The pasty design seems to have been derived from Edward Kidder’s ancient ‘Receipts of pastry and cookery, for the use of his scholars’, published in 1720 (you can still buy a copy on Amazon ;-):
http://www.historicfood.com/Edward%20Kidders%20Lamb%20Pasty.htm
I’m not personally a fan of British pasties; but it seems to me that we could decorate our sweet or savory pies just as beautifully – it just takes practice, and starting small! And you don’t need cutters to do this; just find a design, make a cardboard cutout of it, and find a sharp knife to cut the pastry to each of the shapes; then do some detail on the pieces.
Food52 has a lot of starter ideas for ‘fancying up’ your pie:
https://food52.com/blog/8744-9-ways-to-fancy-up-your-pies
-JT
It wasn’t my recipe, but your variation sounds very good.
LOL! It seems the religious ones are the MOST combative sometimes ;-)
I’m not sure what was meant by ‘mystery topic’ either, except that we try to start with a theme or featured recipe.
Happy Holidays!
Shoot I’ll look through all the posts again.
So busy today, finally the first batch of cakes are in the oven. Wonder how long they will take. I’m doing 325 for ? 40 mins, maybe longer. What were your temps and times? Don’t want them underdone.
I think I overfilled. And I don’t care.
LOL I wouldn’t care either. More to sample!
I think mine anywhere between 30 and 36 minutes, depending on which better it was. It was actually about 10 minutes more than the recipe stated, but I think the silicone takes longer. It doesn’t heat up as fast as the metal.
Are you going to try to pop them out after cooling for 10 minutes or let them cool completely? The reviews kept referring to the instructions that came with the pan, but nobody really said what those were. Sone said they waited 10 minutes and they came out cleanly. Others said they let them cool and they came out cleanly. So sounds like either is good.
With my little flowered Bundt pans, I always tried to get them out after 10 minutes. But at least one always stuck. But I never used Baker’s Joy Or the equivalent either. Maybe that’s the key.
Hey, look what I found! It’s a recipe for homemade pan release. You brush it on with a pastry brush. Probably won’t have that weird smell that the spray ones have.
https://iambaker.net/homemade-pan-release-baking-spray/
Let us know how it works!
But this cake batter, a pound cake batter, was so dense that the inside would not cook through. I over did it on the density. The toothpick in the cake was useless, came out clean after 50 mins, but when I chopped the overhang off one little house, I could see the dense underbake. So back into the oven they all went, and I kept doing that. 20 mins at a time, then chopping off the next house’s overhang, then seeing the underbake, then popping them back in. Ugh, this went on many times.
But they all came right out with perfect detail each time. I sacrificed one, chopped it in half, and saw the under-baked belly. And stuffed the rest back into the oven.
I love the tray, and I have more of the dense cake batter to try again with, but I’d like something less dense that would cook through better. The fault is entirely mine, densing it up so much.
Well, dense does make for fantastic details! Those little houses look amazing. So so so so cute!
I’m going to order the metal pan ASAP. I’m glad yours released easy.
Did you use a traditional pound cake recipe?
Is this the one you got:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B004RB8Y7Y/ref=ox_sc_act_image_1?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1
Yes, that is it! It is very solid and they all fell right out.
Now I need a medium dense recipe!
I still might have mom give them to her friends because they could still use them as decorations. They have a great flavor but I’m afraid they might be, um, earthquake proof homes. Possible bomb shelters...
LOL, I like your thinking! They could be a little prepper villages. Wait, you’re in California so the earthquake theme fits right in!
Well I just ordered the little metal pan and the classic car pan. The details on yours was so exquisite that I decided to splurge. And hubby is on travel Until the 23rd and told me to get myself my own gift. I thought the little cars and village might go well together. Of course then you need the train running around all of it. And I see they have a pine tree pan… One could go completely crazy with this :-)
COGNAC FIG CHÈVRE 
This is the creamery's fresh chèvre topped with Courvoisier cognac and figs in syrup.
It is sold in a glass with the topping on the bottom. Simply open and unmold upside down.
Also comes with apricot/ginger topping. for the non-imbibers.
Easily made at home if your cheese shop sold out---as mine did.
Add Cognac or brandy to fig jam. Or thin apricot jam with a bit of OJ.
Serve atop Chevre on a crostini.
This sounds really good except I can’t get past the smell of chèvre. Wonder how this combo would be on Brie. I need cognac even if only for making vanilla.
Oh, you clearly did not see the snowflake pan or you would have gotten that one too! Saw it yesterday and wanted them.
Brie is a great subber.
That’s gonna be some fine vanilla....made with pricey Cognac.
Re the wait to cool: these guys popped out cleanly every time I pulled them out. I sprayed with Pam Bake once, then 20 mins later once again. They went a little over the pan. You won’t need to wait til they cool.
I still have the dense batter but I’m thinking I should toss it and try a total new recipe. Or add liquid to make this batter less dense?
I used to do it all the time. I had a husband who drank top cognac so we always had it, so I’d keep a glass jar of it with one starter slit (lengthwise) vanilla bean in it, and add some empty vanilla bean shells after using. You keep topping it up and you always have awesome vanilla extract.
I’m probably the only idiot in the store who looks longingly at a bottle of VSOP and thinks, “Ah, vanilla...”
I love the history of Nordic Ware’s fanciful baking pans.
Back in 1946, just out of the service, the newlyweds wondered how to make a living.
She had a Bundt cake pan commonly used in Denmark or thereabouts......and got someone to use it on a cooking show.
Thereafter, they couldnt make the Bundt pans fast enough...it got that popular overnight.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.