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Traditional Pastries
Appears in
Published 1991
Hot-water crust pastry and suet crust pastry are uniquely British pastries that have played an important part in the culinary traditions of meat pies and steamed puddings. Hot-water crust is only used for savoury pies, while suet crust pastry makes rich sweet or savoury baked, boiled or steamed puddings which can be delicious.
A raised meat or game pie, made with a hot-water crust, is well-worth preparing at home. Although time-consuming, it is not difficult. The tin or pie mould is lined with the warm dough to form a ‘coffyn’, as the old recipes refer to it. This dense pastry forms a firm case which encloses the meat mixture. The thickness of the pastry allows the meat to cook slowly and retain all its juices while being ‘protected’ from the heat – the end results therefore remaining moist, tender and full of flavour.