Pie and Pastry Bible (14 page)

Caul fat is stored in brine, so rinse it thoroughly, or soak it for a few hours in cold water, and dry it. It still will be slightly saltier than leaf lard. The fat will render a little less than two thirds its weight. (If you start with a pound of caul fat or leaf lard, you will have about 10 ounces lard.) The rest will be “cracklings.”

To render leaf lard, first chop it fine or process it until well broken up. For caul fat, there is no need to chop it, as it is lacy and thin, except for the edges. Place the fat in a small heavy pan. Cook the fat over the lowest possible heat—just barely simmering (to avoid browning)—for 5 minutes, covered. Then cook for 40 minutes
to an hour, uncovered, until only little golden brown bits remain in the pan. Strain it into a jar. It will keep refrigerated for months and frozen for 2 years.

POINTERS FOR SUCCESS

Pay particular attention to temperature, keeping the lard well chilled.

When mixing the lard flakes/flour mixture with the liquid, stir gently so as to maintain large flakes of lard.

UNDERSTANDING

Compared to an all-butter flaky crust, this crust uses essentially an equal volume of lard to butter, which adds tenderness because butter is only 80 percent fat and lard is 100 percent fat.

I have tested this recipe with several different types of lard. The weight varied from 7 ounces to 7.64 ounces per cup, which is a difference of about 4 teaspoons.

FLAKY BEEF SUET PIE CRUST

T
his is a flaky yet meltingly tender crust with a delicate beef flavor and pebbly surface. Beef marrow made an excellent crust, but crust from rendered fat from around veal kidneys (ask the butcher to leave the fat around the kidneys), though slightly milder in flavor, was superior in texture (considerably lighter and less greasy).

PASTRY FOR 6 POTPIES OR A 9½- TO 10- BY 1-INCH TART SHELL MAKES: 12 OUNCES/340 GRAMS
INGREDIENTS	MEASURE	WEIGHT
	VOLUME	OUNCES	GRAMS
unsalted butter, cold	6 tablespoons	3 ounces	85 grams
pastry flour or bleached all-purpose flour	1¼ cups + tablespoon 1 cup + 3 tablespoons (dip and sweep method)	6 ounces	170 grams
salt	¼ + teaspoon	•	•
beef suet or marrow, at room temperature	3 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons	1.5 ounces	42 grams
ice water	3 tablespoons	1.5 ounces	44 grams

Cut the butter into small (about ¾-inch) cubes; wrap it in plastic wrap and freeze it for at least 30 minutes. Place the flour and salt in a reclosable gallon-size freezer bag and freeze it for at least 30 minutes. Using a melon bailer, scoop ½inch balls of the suet into a bowl. Refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes.

Place the flour mixture in a food processor with the metal blade. Set the bag aside. Add the suet and process until the mixture resembles coarse meal, about 20 seconds. Add the frozen butter cubes and pulse until the butter is the size of large peas. (Toss with a fork to see it better.) Remove the cover and add the water. Pulse until most of the butter is reduced to the size of peas. The mixture will be in particles and will not hold together. Spoon it into the plastic bag.

Holding both ends of the bag opening with your fingers, knead the mixture by alternately pressing it, from the outside of the bag, with the knuckles and heels of your hands until the mixture holds together in one piece and feels slightly stretchy when pulled.

Wrap the dough with plastic wrap, flatten it into a disc, and refrigerate for at least 45 minutes, preferably overnight.

STORE

Refrigerated, up to 2 days; frozen, up to 3 months.

RENDERING SUET

Chop the suet fine or process it until it is well broken up. Place it in a small heavy pan. Cook it over the lowest possible heat (just barely simmering, to avoid browning) for about 1½ hours or until only little bits remain in the pan. (In a double boiler it will take about 8 hours, but there is no risk of burning.) Strain it into a jar. The fat from 1 kidney yields about 1½ cups, plus about ½ cup of cracklings.

RENDERING MARROW

Choose bones about 1½ inches in diameter that have a large marrow center.

Preheat the oven to 350
°F. Place the bones in a baking pan with a tablespoon of water. Cover and bake for 30 minutes or until the marrow softens enough so that a skewer inserted all the way through goes in easily. Remove the bones and allow them to cool slightly. Scoop out the marrow, placing it in a small heavy saucepan with 2 tablespoons of water. Cover and simmer, leaving the cover open a crack, for 15 to 20 minutes or until all the marrow is rendered, with the solid brown bits floating on top. Be careful not to cook it too fast, or a burnt flavor will result. Strain it into a jar. Three 7-inch bones will yield about ¾ cup/5.25 ounces/150 grams of rendered marrow.

STORE

Rendered suet or marrow will keep refrigerated for months and frozen for about 2 years.

POINTERS FOR SUCCESS

If using 100 percent beef suet instead of the suet/butter combination, use a total of 4 ounces/113 grams.

Suet becomes very hard when refrigerated, so it needs to be at cool room temperature to make the balls. Because of this quality, I offer only the food processor method, since the hand method requires rechilling after the butter is added.

FLAKY GOOSE FAT PIE CRUST

I
adore the flavor of goose fat and collect the rendered fat whenever I roast a goose. I have never encountered a recipe for a pie crust using it and correctly assumed it would be tricky to work out because it is liquid at room temperature. This causes it to coat and moisture-proof the flour, making the crust very tender and fragile. The solution was using half goose fat, half butter. Not only does it offer a lovely and unusual flavor, it is more tender than an all-butter crust, yet still flaky, and it browns faster. A pastry chef at Gundel, in Budapest, Hungary, where goose is king, told me that in years past, pastry crust was made with unrendered goose fat because it is solid at room temperature. I tried this, processing the fat, and the texture was incredibly flaky and tender, but the flavor was not as desirable, so it wasn’t worth the effort.

PASTRY FOR 6 POTPIES OR A 9½- TO 10- BY 1-INCH TART SHELL MAKES: 12 OUNCES/342 GRAMS
INGREDIENTS	MEASURE	WEIGHT
	VOLUME	OUNCES	GRAMS
bleached all-purpose flour	1 cups (dip and sweep method)	6.5 ounces	184 grams
salt	½ teaspoon	•	•
fresh thyme, chopped fine, or dried	1 tabblespoon	•	3 grams
1 teaspoon	•	•
goose fat, cold	¼ cup	2 ounces	57 grams
unsalted butter, cold	4 tablespoons	2 ounces	57 grams
ice water	¼ liquid cup	2 ounces	59 grams

Place the flour, salt, and thyme in a reclosable gallon-size freezer bag and whisk them together. Using a melon bailer, scoop ½-inch blobs of the goose fat directly into the flour. Place the bag in the freezer for at least 1 hour. Cut the butter into small (about ¾-inch) cubes; wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Place a medium mixing bowl in the freezer to chill.

Add the cold butter cubes to the flour mixture in the bag and working quickly, using a rolling pin, roll the goose fat and butter into the flour until they are in thin flakes. Empty the mixture into the cold bowl, scraping the sides of the bag to release all of it. Set the bag aside. Sprinkle on the ice water, tossing gently with a rubber spatula to incorporate it evenly. Spoon the mixture into the plastic bag.