The royal Parisian pastrycook and confectioner: from the original of M.A. Carême / edited by John Porter. With illustrative plates.

  • Carême, M. A. (Marie Antonin), 1784-1833.
Date:
1834
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The royal Parisian pastrycook and confectioner: from the original of M.A. Carême / edited by John Porter. With illustrative plates. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.

    17/426 (page 5)
    is said that half an hour is not enough to make this paste perfect, yet there are circumstances when, in less than half an hour, it is compulsory to make very fine puff paste. As this method of working is really indispensable in a moment of hurry, I shall g;ive an example from my own practice durino that season which is the least favourable to our business. ^ I prepared my paste as before, rather softer, however, than usual, and worked it for about a minute, when it became sleek and supple, as if it had been made some time. (In winter, I added to it butter that had been well worked, and then rolled it twice every four minutes, so that in twelve minutes my paste had been rolled six times.) I then let it rest for a minute, and afterwards worked my butter, keep- ing it all the time in the pail with ice and spring-water, vvhere, as in the former case, I had put it before I began; then, having worked it for about two minutes, I squeezed it well in a napkin, folded it in the paste, and gave it quickly two turns, taking care to roll it lightly, in order to prevent the butter' from penetrating through it. I placed it after- wards in ice between two plates, as described before, and after turning it twice in five minutes, rolled it twice more, and replaced it immediately in the ice, where I left it only thiee minutes, and then gave it two more turns, and placed It again in the ice, where I left it two minutes longer. In the mean time, I put a very thin piece of fine paste, lightly wetted, on a small baking-plate, and after removing the pufF paste from the ice, I placed in the centre a lid of eight inches m diameter, running the point of my knife along its edge, and cutting out a round piece to make a vol-cm-vent, the top ot which I egged lightly,* and then marked, with the point ot my knife, a circle of one-sixth of an inch deep, and at the distance of three-quarters of an inch from the edge ; this I did to mark the cover of the vol-au-vent, which I placed im- mediately in a clear oven. I have sometimes made this kind of paste with very great success, in less than fourteen minutes. It IS necessary to lightly flour both sides nf thp r>noi-p «rLo,-. light, become dull and heavy. le tails of pullets or capons, well-washed.