FoodNetArchive

Paul Richards' book of breads, cakes, pastries, ices and sweetmeats

1907

Page 18

Presented as published in 1907. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
130 —PATTY CASES NO. I. Take good pufi paste, roll it oat not quite one- quarter of an inch thickness, and cut out for large size patties with a three-inch cutter. Put on wet baking pans a little distance apart. Mark the center with a smaller cutter of one inch less diameter, and set in a cold place to rest for fifteen to twenty minutes. Before baking wash the patties with an egg- wash and bake in a brisk heat of about 400 to 450 degrees Fahr. in an empty oven without steam. In washing the patties, care should be taken that the wash does not run down the sides of the paste (only the top should be washed). The run- ning down prevents the paste from rising evenly in the oven during baking. When the patties are baked, lift the top care- fully and take out the soft inside paste to make room for the filling. 131.— PATTY CASES NO. 2. Another way of making the patties is to make them in three pieces instead of cutting them out in one piece. i6 PAUL RICHARDS BOOK OF BREADS, CAKES, PASTRIES, ICES AND SWEETMEATS. Roll out a very thin sheet of the paste, to one- sixteenth of an inch thickness. With a cutter a little larger than three inches diameter cut out circulars and put on a wet baking sheet. Roll out another sheet of paste one-quarter inch thick- ness, and cut in three-inch circulars. With a two-inch cutter cut rings from the three-inch pieces, wash the cut-out bottoms first with water and put on the rings. Set in a cool place to rest for fifteen minutes. . Then wash the top of the rings and bake same as directed for the other patties. For the tops, roll out the trimmings into a thin sheet, cut in two-inch round pieces, put on pan wash over and bake. 132.— VOL-AU-VENT(LARGE PATTY CASES). Vol-au-vents are very large patty cases often made so large as to hold from one to two quarts of filling (which may consist of the regular filling of oysters, chicken, etc., or of a filling of game birds as for other large meat pies. Vol-au-vents are mostly served for parties and large dinners. Roll out the puff paste into a sheet one inch thickness, and put it on a wet baking pan, Put a round or oval plate, a little larger than you want the case to be, on top of the paste, and cut with a sharp knife around the sides to trim off the sur- plus paste. Take off the plate and make another circular cut of one inch less diameter (but do not cut through) to form the cover. Set the patty in the ice box to rest for twenty minutes. When ready to bake wash with a light egg-wash and bake in a good heat. To obtain a very high case it is best to set a ring of stiff paper around the case during the first part of the baking. It should be about five inches high and two inches larger in diameter. This gives the case more time to rise before it bakes on the sides and makes it bake up more evenly. [The small patties are termed petits vols-au-vent and petits bouchees]. The vols-au-vent and the smaller patty cases are also used for sweet pastry. Filled with whipped cream and fresh fruits they make very acceptable desserts. 133.— TARTS AND TARTLETS. The tarts and tartlets may be made like the patty cases, from puff paste, baked, and the pre- pared filling put in after baking; or small patty tins may be lined with puff or tart pastes, and baked with the filling. If the shells in the tins are baked before the filling is put in, it is best to dust the lined tins with a little fiour and fill up with beans, or little balls of flour paste. Bake the shells and remove the beans or the paste to make room for the filling. This prevents the shrinking of the paste in baking. The beans can be used over again for the same purpose.