Kitchen

[AuntG]

Years ago, there was a cooking show on our local Green Bay station in which the host made a crust that you simply pressed into the pan. I made many fruit pies during the summer when using that recipe.

[Deadeye Daisy]

On 6/20/2014 Sooner said:

On 6/20/2014 Deadeye Daisy said:

Used to grate frozen butter and lard for crusts until the mid 70s.

That's when I got my first food processor at home. (In the 60s, we used a Robot-Coupe at the restaurant to make crusts; would have killed to have that monster in my kitchen, along with the commerical Bamix).

These days, it's far easier and faster to use the food processor than to grate the shortening. Takes less than a minute to make a crust.

Are you saying you GRATE it first with the processor's grating blade then use the blade in the processor to finish it, or do you just use the blade alone? I use the processor and it makes wonderful crusts in a jiffy, but I just use the blade and cut up cold fat of some sort.

We're the only people I know who had the very first food processors. You predate me a little, but I had the first Cuisinarts sold in the US and I fell in love in about 10 minutes when I got it going. It was absolutely amazing to see what it could do! LOL!!!

Sooner:

No - not necessary to grate the shortening at all. Just dump in the dry ingredients into the processor bowl and pulse once or twice to combine. Then dump in the ice cold (I actually freeze both the butter and lard cubes) shortening chunks, pulse until it looks like meal, then add the ice water & vodka. If the dough comes together in the work bowl, you've added too much liquid.

[dakotacheryl]

On 6/22/2014 Deadeye Daisy said:

On 6/20/2014 Sooner said:

On 6/20/2014 Deadeye Daisy said:

Used to grate frozen butter and lard for crusts until the mid 70s.

That's when I got my first food processor at home. (In the 60s, we used a Robot-Coupe at the restaurant to make crusts; would have killed to have that monster in my kitchen, along with the commerical Bamix).

These days, it's far easier and faster to use the food processor than to grate the shortening. Takes less than a minute to make a crust.

Are you saying you GRATE it first with the processor's grating blade then use the blade in the processor to finish it, or do you just use the blade alone? I use the processor and it makes wonderful crusts in a jiffy, but I just use the blade and cut up cold fat of some sort.

We're the only people I know who had the very first food processors. You predate me a little, but I had the first Cuisinarts sold in the US and I fell in love in about 10 minutes when I got it going. It was absolutely amazing to see what it could do! LOL!!!

Sooner:

No - not necessary to grate the shortening at all. Just dump in the dry ingredients into the processor bowl and pulse once or twice to combine. Then dump in the ice cold (I actually freeze both the butter and lard cubes) shortening chunks, pulse until it looks like meal, then add the ice water & vodka. If the dough comes together in the work bowl, you've added too much liquid.

That's exactly what I do too...makes the best crust !!

[Campion]

I don't use frozen butter, but it's not a bad idea in summer, when too-soft butter can make a problem.

I do use European butter (Irish, Plugra or Presidente) because AMERICAN butter has more water in it and can mess things up. I also mix butter 50/50 with Crisco. For some reason, unless I'm making pate brisee, it works better.

There is a great cheapie Kindle book available, America's Best Pies for two bucks--great recipes for all kinds of crusts if you are crustly-challenged. If you don't have a Kindle, you can read this on a PC. I take my laptop into the kitchen for recipes. It's just easier than using a recipe box anymore, because I like recipes from the web.

[house_cat]

On 6/22/2014 Campion said:

I don't use frozen butter, but it's not a bad idea in summer, when too-soft butter can make a problem.

I do use European butter (Irish, Plugra or Presidente) because AMERICAN butter has more water in it and can mess things up. I also mix butter 50/50 with Crisco. For some reason, unless I'm making pate brisee, it works better.

There is a great cheapie Kindle book available, America's Best Pies for two bucks--great recipes for all kinds of crusts if you are crustly-challenged. If you don't have a Kindle, you can read this on a PC. I take my laptop into the kitchen for recipes. It's just easier than using a recipe box anymore, because I like recipes from the web.

I love this expression!

Thanks for the Kindle suggestion. I love my Kindle, but for some reason I never used it for cook books.

I don't know if anyone here uses Roku, but I have discovered so many cooking shows and demos, I don't think I have enough time to ever watch them all. There is a Gooseberry Patch channel on Roku, for those who recommended the books to me.

[magicmoodz]

On 6/22/2014 Campion said:

I don't use frozen butter, but it's not a bad idea in summer, when too-soft butter can make a problem.

I do use European butter (Irish, Plugra or Presidente) because AMERICAN butter has more water in it and can mess things up. I also mix butter 50/50 with Crisco. For some reason, unless I'm making pate brisee, it works better.

There is a great cheapie Kindle book available, America's Best Pies for two bucks--great recipes for all kinds of crusts if you are crustly-challenged. If you don't have a Kindle, you can read this on a PC. I take my laptop into the kitchen for recipes. It's just easier than using a recipe box anymore, because I like recipes from the web.

My cashier and I were chatting at Trader Joe's yesterday about our plans for the weekend. She said she was going to attempt making fettuccine alfredo using Plugra. She said it is suppose to make the creamiest sauce, since it has less water.

I had never heard of Plugra, but I do sometimes serve Irish butter when entertaining.

[Sooner]

On 6/22/2014 Deadeye Daisy said:

On 6/20/2014 Sooner said:

On 6/20/2014 Deadeye Daisy said:

Used to grate frozen butter and lard for crusts until the mid 70s.

That's when I got my first food processor at home. (In the 60s, we used a Robot-Coupe at the restaurant to make crusts; would have killed to have that monster in my kitchen, along with the commerical Bamix).

These days, it's far easier and faster to use the food processor than to grate the shortening. Takes less than a minute to make a crust.

Are you saying you GRATE it first with the processor's grating blade then use the blade in the processor to finish it, or do you just use the blade alone? I use the processor and it makes wonderful crusts in a jiffy, but I just use the blade and cut up cold fat of some sort.

We're the only people I know who had the very first food processors. You predate me a little, but I had the first Cuisinarts sold in the US and I fell in love in about 10 minutes when I got it going. It was absolutely amazing to see what it could do! LOL!!!

Sooner:

No - not necessary to grate the shortening at all. Just dump in the dry ingredients into the processor bowl and pulse once or twice to combine. Then dump in the ice cold (I actually freeze both the butter and lard cubes) shortening chunks, pulse until it looks like meal, then add the ice water & vodka. If the dough comes together in the work bowl, you've added too much liquid.

OK! That's what I thought. I don't freeze butter will have to try that -- unless, of course, I am having a pie crisis at the moment! LOL!!