Cassell's Vegetarian Cookery: A Manual of Cheap and Wholesome Diet

by A. G. Payne

CHAPTER XIV.

PIES AND PUDDINGS.

In vegetarian cookery, as a rule, pies and puddings are made in the same way as in ordinary cookery, with the exception that we cannot use lard or dripping in making our pastry. Nor are we allowed to use suet in making crust for puddings. It would have been quite impossible to have given even one quarter of the recipes for the pies and puddings known, and we must refer those who wish for information on this subject to “Cassell’s Shilling Cookery,” where will be found a very complete list, but which would have occupied the whole of the space which we have devoted to recipes where vegetarian cookery, as a rule, differs from the ordinary.

We will, on the present occasion, confine our attention to the two points we have mentioned, viz., how to make pastry without lard or dripping, and pudding crust without suet. The first of these two points causes no difficulty whatever, as the best pastry, especially that known as puff paste, is invariably made with butter only as the fatty element; but there is one point we must not overlook.

Vegetarians are divided into two classes: those who use the animal products—butter, milk, cream, and eggs—and those who do not. This latter class contains, probably, the most respected members of the vegetarian body, as it will always be found that there is an involuntary homage paid by all men to consistency. How then are strict vegetarians to make pastry, butter being classed with the forbidden fruit? We fear we cannot tell them how to make good puff paste; but “Necessity is the mother of invention,” and naturally olive oil must supply the place of butter.

Pastry without Butter.—We will describe how to make a small quantity, which is always best when we make experiments. Take half a pound of the best Vienna flour, and mix with it, while dry, about a salt-spoonful of baking-powder. Now add about a tablespoonful of olive oil, and work the oil and flour together with the fingers exactly as you work a small piece of butter into the flour at the commencement of making puff paste. Next add sufficient water to make the whole into an elastic paste; roll it out and let it set between two tins containing ice, similar to the method used in making high-class pastry.

We have mentioned a tablespoonful of oil, but if ice is used more oil may be added.

We all know that oil will freeze at a much lower temperature than water, consequently the minute particles of oil become partially solid. Now take the paste, roll it out, and give it three turns; roll it out again, give it three more turns, and put it back in the ice; let it stand ten minutes or a quarter of an hour, and repeat this process three times. Be careful to flour the pastry each time before it is turned. By this means we get the pastry in thin layers, with minute air bubbles between them, and this will cause the pastry to rise. If you are making a pie, roll out the pastry the last time, cover the pie, and put it in the oven immediately, while the pastry is cold. Do not let the pastry stand, unless it be in a very cold place.

This pastry we have just described, made with oil, can also be utilised for puddings, in which latter case we would recommend the addition of a little more baking-powder, and to every pound of flour add two tablespoonfuls of very fine bread-crumbs. These must be dry, and rubbed through a fine sieve.

Pastry with Butter.—Good puff paste is made by taking equal quantities of butter and flour—say a pound of each—the yolk of one egg, a pinch of salt, while the water used is acidulated with lemon-juice. For the manipulation of this pastry we must refer those who do not know how to make it to other cookery books, or to the shilling one above mentioned. In making ordinary paste we must use less butter; and when we use considerably less butter, if we wish the pastry light, we shall require baking-powder. The quantity depends very much upon the quality. Many persons make their own baking-powder, and we cannot recommend any better than the recipe given in the last chapter, viz., an ounce of tartaric acid, an ounce and a half of bicarbonate of soda, and an ounce and a half of arrowroot. A great deal, too, depends upon the quality of the flour. Vienna flour is much more expensive than ordinary flour, but incomparably superior. What limit we can assign to the quantity of butter used it is impossible to say. A quarter of a pound of butter to a pound of flour, and a teaspoonful of baking-powder, will make a fair crust. When less butter is used the result is not altogether satisfactory.