Perfect Pie More Than 125 All Time Favorite Pies and Tarts

THE LANGUAGE OF PIES Just exactly what is a pie? And when is a pie a tart or a tartlet? When is a pie a flan? The answers can be as confusing as the questions, but as so many types are mentioned in this book, some attempt at definition must be made. An American-style pie generally is any pastry crust with a sweet or savory filling baked in a shallow round dish with slanted sides. Pies are served from their baking dishes. Open-faced pies have no top crust. Deep-dish pies have the same kind of fillings as other pies but more of it because they are baked in deeper plates and have no bottom crust. They always have an upper crust. A tart is the European cousin of the pie. It generally contains sweetened fruit or preserves or a custard filling, though there are savory tart recipes as well. A tart looks like an open-faced pie: a filled pastry shell. Sometimes tarts, as well as open-faced pies, have pastry-strip lattice crusts. European-style tarts are baked in straight-sided rather than slope-sided pans, often with fluted edges. Before serving, tarts are removed from their baking pans, which are usually made with removable bottoms to facilitate this procedure. In England and France, the wordstartandflanare used interchangeably, while in America, tarts and flans are either called tarts or open-faced pies. A flan is actually named for the round metal ring in which it is baked. It is basically a pastry case containing any one of a variety of fillings, like a tart. However, in Spain and parts of France, the termflancan also signify a pudding or molded egg-cream mixture. Agaletteis, literally, a round flat French cake. However, any flat, free-form (as opposed to pan-baked) fruit tart can also be called a galette, or, in Italian, acrostata.The most widely known galettes in France are made for Twelfth Night celebrations and each one contains a good luck charm or tiny porcelain statue of Jesus. In the north of France, Twelfth Night galettes are made of puff pastry, while in the south, they are made with yeast dough. The termtimbale,according toLarousse Gastronomique, comes from the Arab thabal, meaning drum, and refers to a receptacle. Originally,timbaleswere metal or earthenware vessels for food. Today, the word may refer to any preparation served in a pie shell with a decorated, glazed pastry top crust molded in a metal form and shaped like a dome. Pateis the French word for "paste," meaning dough. The wordpaterefers to a totally enclosed pastry case containing a forcemeat, or filling, of meat, vegetables, or (less commonly) fruit. To be strictly correct, pate should refer only to a pastry-enclosed meat or fish mixture baked in the oven and served hot or cold. By contrast, aterrinecan be a sweet dessert layered in a rectangular mold or a savory forcemeat baked without a pastry case (usually in an earthenware vessel, also called a terrine), with strips of fat or bacon on top; terrines are served cold only. And while we are in the family, agalantineis also forcemeat, a terrine in fact, but baked inside boned poultry. ABOUT THE RECIPES IN THIS BOOK * Before baking, you may wish to read the sections on equipment and ingredients, to familiarize yourself with information and techniques that will help you succeed. * Before starting a recipe, be sure to read it through from start to finish, so you will know what ingredients and equipment to have on hand, and how to plan your time. * To achieve success in baking, use the pan sizes specified. A pie plate or tart pan that is too large will not have enough filling; while a pan thatPurdy, Susan G. is the author of 'Perfect Pie More Than 125 All Time Favorite Pies and Tarts' with ISBN 9780767902625 and ISBN 0767902629.