and then is baked.
Tender Savory Pastry:
Hot-Water Pastry,
Pâte À pâté
Hot-water pastry, or pâté pastry, is unlike the
other pastries. Its original purpose in
medieval times was to provide a sturdy
container for meat dishes meant to be kept for
some time (p. 560). Today it’s used to enclose
meat pâtés, to make meat pies, and sometimes
as an alternative to puff pastry that surrounds
the tenderloin in beef Wellington and the
salmon in coulibiac. It is easily rolled out and
formed into a container, able to retain juices
released during cooking, yet tender to both
knife and tooth. It’s made with a relatively
large amount of water — 50 parts per 100
flour — and about 35 parts lard. The water
and lard are heated together near the boil, and
the flour is then added, the mixture stirred just