Alex Rast wrote:

> at Thu, 07 Oct 2004 00:04:50 GMT in
> >,
> (Jana Cole) wrote :
>
>
>>On 06 Oct 2004 18:07:32 GMT, ospam (DJS0302) wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>>Are you sure that recipe is correct? I can't imagine putting that much
>>>oil in a pie crust,... So if you used 2 cups of flour you would use 2/3
>>>cup of
>>>shortening or lard.
>>
>>I agree. I felt the same way about the amount of oil. However, when I
>>reduced the oil, the crust was too flaky for these meat pies. They
>>fell apart.
>>
>
> You've had a lot of recommendations to use lard. However, lard does wonders
> for the *texture* of a pie crust (i.e. makes it more flaky), but not that
> much for the *flavour* of the crust (stays pretty bland) Shortening, btw,
> also makes the flavour bland and the texture isn't as good as lard anyway.
>
> For good *flavour*, use butter. A classic ratio is for 2 cups flour, use 1
> cup butter. Half butter, half lard yields high flakiness and good flavour.
>
> But part of your problem is sturdiness. In that situation, an all-butter
> crust is sturdier than one made with lard. Or you could use a crust like
> that for Melton Mowbray pork pie (a great school lunch pie - I had them all
> the time as a kid) which is designed to be sturdy and hold up under rougher
> treatment. The recipe at this site:
>
> http://www.greatbritishkitchen.co.uk...rayporkpie.htm
>
> shows up all over the place and is a good place to start. You don't have to
> use the crust for pork pie only - you could wrap it round almost anything.
>
> Hope this helps.
>


I think the biggest problem with the lack of flavor is not enough salt.
The original recipe needs at least 1/2 tsp of salt, and probably a
little more.

Bob