On Food and Cooking

an expression of the fragmentary,
discontinuous, particulate qualities of wheat
flour. We use just enough water to make a
cohesive dough from the flour, and work in
large amounts of fat to coat and separate flour
particles and dough regions from each other.
Cooking gelates half or less of the water-
deprived starch, and produces a dry mass that
readily crumbles or flakes in the mouth,
releasing the fat’s complementary moist
richness.
Many pastries are not prepared and eaten
on their own as other dough and batter foods
are. Instead they serve as a contrasting
container for a moist filling, whether savory
(quiche, pâté, meat pies, vegetable tarts) or
sweet (fruit pies and tarts, creams, custards).
The container may be open, as in tarts and
open-faced pies, a closed double-crust pie, or
fully enclosed turnovers — samosas,
empanadas, pasties, pierogi, piroshki. We also
use the term “pastry” for what are essentially