dragonlady7

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exrayspex https://exrayspex.tumblr.com/ replied to the post about chicken processing and the pumpkin pie experiments https://bomberqueen17.tumblr.com/post/631993942623354880/busy:

                     oh i loved hearing about your pie experiments. you

really do need to grind the hell out of it when you use fresh pumpkin but ooh it’s so good. i’ll have to keep an eye out for the winning kind this season. also, i’m curious about your sister’s crust recipe of you know about it–what fat does she use, any funky ingredients like vodka, any fun tricks like laminating it etc? i’m a bit of a pie nerd lol

I just asked and it’s the Joy of Cooking’s recipe. She’s transcribed it into her great/terrible little handwritten recipe book– it’s great because it’s so eclectic, but it’s terrible because a) the index is worthless and b) she didn’t use waterproof ink for most of it so really, it’s kind of a terrible little compendium. And remember, this is the woman who reuses jars without necessarily updating the labels on them, so this is super thematically relevant. And it’s a blank book she bought sometime around the milennium and it has fancy paper in it and she affected a much fancier style of handwriting than she normally uses and it’s very cute but it’s also largely unusable except by her, LOL. Here’s the image I took of the page:

Rather than attempt to transcribe that nightmare, I’ll just copy-paste someone else’s transcription of the 2000 edition of Joy of Cooking’s Flaky Pastry Dough recipe, and note that instead of using vegetable shortening, she uses lard rendered from her own hogs. Behind the cut, for length:

by Irma S. Rombauer, Ethan Becker, Marion Rombauer Becker

   This dough makes a light, flaky crust that shatters at the touch of

a fork. If you need only a single pie or tart crust, decrease all ingredients by half or freeze half the dough for future use.

           Makes: two 9 inch pie crusts, or two 9 ½- or 10-inch tart

crusts, or one 9 inch covered pie crust

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon white sugar or 1 tablespoon powdered sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup solid vegetable shortening, or ½ cup shortening and 8 tablespoons (1 stick) cold unsalted butter
1/3 cup plus 1 to 3 tablespoon ice water, divided
1. Using a rubber spatula, thoroughly mix flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl.
2. Break the shortening into large chunks; if using butter, cut it into small pieces, then add it to the flour mixture. Cut the fat into the dry ingredients by chopping vigorously with a pastry blender or by cutting in opposite directions with 2 knives, one held in each hand. As you work, periodically stir dry flour up from the bottom of the bowl and scrape clinging fat off the pastry blender or knives. When you are through, some of the fat should remain in pea-sized pieces; the rest should be reduced to the consistency of coarse crumbs or cornmeal. The mixture should seem dry and powdery and not pasty or greasy.
3. Drizzle 1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon ice water over the flour and fat mixture.
4. Using the rubber spatula, cut with the blade side until the mixture looks evenly moistened and begins to form small balls. Press down on the dough with the flat side of the spatula. If the balls of dough stick together, you have added enough water; if they do not, drizzle 1 to 2 tablespoons ice water over the top.
5. Cut in the water, again using the blade of the spatula, then press with your hands until the dough coheres. The dough should look rough, not smooth. Divide the dough in half, press each half into a round fiat disk, and wrap tightly in plastic. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, and preferably for several hours, or for up to 2 days before rolling. The dough can also be wrapped airtight and frozen for up to 6 months; thaw completely before rolling.