Pastēte

A pastēte is "an artful dish of pastry" in which stews, roasts, fricassees, ragouts, forcemeats and meatballs are baked, so the food stays richer and juicier. The case is either a free-standing pastry "bowl" or a pastry wall (rante) built round a pewter dish. It is buttered inside and filled from the bottom: meat first, then forcemeat and meatballs, then garnishes such as crayfish tails, capers, olives, morels, mushrooms, lemon slices and raisins or currants, and finally some sauce. A pastry lid is pressed on at the edge, strips of pastry are laid round the rim, and the whole pie is brushed with egg yolk. It bakes standing on paper on a baking tin, which sits on a 3-finger layer of sand in a tart pan, so the base doesn't burn. For some pies the lid is lifted, or a hole cut, and more sauce is poured in at the end.

For a pie in a dish, as many of the book's recipes do it, line only the sides of a deep 24 cm pie dish with a wall of the same pastry, or use the dish as it is and put on only a lid.

• 500 g plain flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 120 g lard and 60 g butter
• 200 ml water
• 1 egg beaten with 1 yolk, to glaze
• Grease a 20 cm springform tin, at least 7 cm deep.
• Bring the water, lard and butter to the boil. Pour onto the flour and salt and stir to a dough, then knead briefly until smooth.
• While it is still warm, cut off a quarter for the lid and keep it covered. Press the rest over the base and up the sides of the tin, about 6 mm thick, with no cracks.
• Fill (see below), roll out the lid, wet the edge, press it on and crimp. Cut a 1 cm steam hole in the middle, decorate with pastry leaves or strips and brush with the egg glaze.

• Order: butter the case, put the meat at the bottom, then forcemeat and meatballs, then garnishes, then a few spoonfuls of sauce. Keep the rest of the sauce for the end.
• Cold filling: anything cooked beforehand must be cooled and chilled before it goes into the pastry. A warm filling melts the crust and sits in the bacterial danger zone.
• Baking: 200 °C (180 °C fan) for 20–30 minutes to set the crust, then 160–170 °C until the centre of the filling reaches 72 °C on a probe thermometer pushed in through the steam hole. A tray on the lowest shelf does the job of the book's bed of sand. Cover the top loosely with foil if it browns too fast.
• Pricking: for a stiff crust, the book says to prick it here and there with a fork once it has set, so it doesn't burst (09-035).
• Sauce at the end: pour hot sauce in through the steam hole or a lid cut round with a knife, and give the pie 10 more minutes.
• Serving cold: take off the fat that rises to the top, let the pie cool, and refrigerate it within 2 hours. Eat within 3 days.

• Rest birds for a day: the book kills birds the day before so they don't stay tough; a bought bird has already rested. Keep it covered in the fridge. The book's damp cloth keeps the skin pale; hanging birds uncovered makes it red and dry.
• Flatten birds: break the breastbone with a wooden pestle or rolling pin, turning the bird and tapping, until it lies flat against the backbone. Don't tear the skin. Cut the feet off at the drumstick joint and tuck the leg ends into a small slit in the skin, so nothing sticks up under the lid.
• Game: lard game birds with strips of back fat and firm them briefly on a grill or in a hot pan. Skin hares, peel off the bluish membrane and cut out the sinews before cutting into pieces. Beat an old turkey flat, lard it and firm it in hot water or on a grill.
• Small birds: snipe, thrushes and larks are roasted with their innards, but for a pie the book cleans them, chops the gizzard and liver (without the gall bladder) with the intestines and adds them for flavour. Most small wild birds are protected today; use quail, and if you add the livers, cook the pie to 72 °C in the centre.
• Veal and lamb: cut into moderate pieces, rinse in cold water and blanch briefly in boiling water, so the meat firms and stays pale.

Mix everything in a non-metal bowl. Turn the pieces of meat in it one by one, pour the rest over, cover and refrigerate for 2–12 hours, turning once or twice: the book says "a good while". Drain and pat dry before using. The book calls this iesālot or, in German, marinieren.

The second way: sweating (einpassieren)

For 1 kg meat, melt 30 g butter in a heavy saucepan and add the meat with the same seasonings as the marinade, without the vinegar and water, plus 2 strips of lemon peel. Cover and cook over very low heat for 15–20 minutes, turning now and then, until the meat has firmed and turned pale all over. It should not brown. Spread it out to cool, then chill it before it goes into the pie.

• 200 ml white wine vinegar mixed with 100 ml water (the water is our addition)
• 1 tsp fine salt
• 4 cloves, crushed, and a good pinch of ground mace
• 1 small onion and 2 tbsp parsley, finely chopped
• ½ tsp dried thyme and ½ tsp dried basil
• 2 bay leaves and 3 slices of lemon