Apologies in advance to people who clicked over here because from the title they were expecting a post on discrete approaches to quantum field theory such as lattice QCD. This is mostly about lattice cherry pie, which, you’ll perhaps admit, is at least as interesting. Best to use the ones that have a slight sour edge to the taste, in my opinion… not too overly sweet.
Yes, it is time for an Asymptotia visit to the kitchen. Sunday I had a little dinner gathering for five, which called for an afternoon of cooking. I took some pictures, but in the end the set is incomplete since I got distracted with the important business of helping serve everything nice and hot and on time. So the main focus will be the pie (shown at the top so you don’t have to wait – the photo makes it look at lot darker than it actually is. It is not burnt!), since that’s all I have a complete set for. The vegetable sides (one by myself and one by my co-conspirator) and the completed chicken are not depicted. So here it all is in photos with captions. You can click on a photo for a larger view of it and the caption on a single page, and then click again if you want a yet larger view of the picture itself. Enjoy!
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- Well, it all began hours earlier, with the making of the pastry. I do half butter and half shortening, for extra all around goodness. The usual things follow, such as cutting the fat into the flour (with a tiny bit of salt) using a pair of table knives….
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- No fancy tools are needed, despite rumours to the contrary. Good pastry is easy if you are patient. An ordinary whisk is good for the final blending into a breadcrumb-like texture. Then a tiny bit of water mixed in to barely hold it together into a couple of balls. Then into the fridge for later.
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- Washing of cherries (fresh from the farmer’s market) and halfing and pitting them follows. This is a good time to listen to podcasts such as Broadcasting House, and then Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo…
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- Then clear everything away and wash the chicken, and prep it using appropriate choices of herbs from the garden, butter, salt and pepper, and so on…
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- A selection of some of the things that were chopped to go into the stuffing. Two types of onion, celery, peppers, tomatoes from the garden, ginger, garlic…
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- A closeup of scallion from garden still with earth on it. Washed and chopped later…
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- Some quinoa, being pre-cooked for the stuffing….
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- …The stuffing, being made in the pan. Also added were some mushrooms I tossed in hot butter for a while…. the onions were cooked down in white wine for a bit…
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- Then…several missing photos later… the stuffed and stitched up chicken went into the oven. The results were very tasty, I was assured. All gone now. I forgot to take more photos of the results I’m afraid.
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- Returning to the pie, after washing all surfaces and things that came into contact with chicken, I brought out the Big Board, floured it, and rolled out the pastry. One solid piece for the base…
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- … and one solid piece cut into strips for the top. The filling of cherries mixed with some spices, flour, and a little sugar, went in. I made a lattice out of the strips… weaving gently back and forth…
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- …until the lattice was done. Then I took a fork to the edges, and glazed with an egg-yolk. Into the oven while we ate the main course….
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- … and out it came, just as I finished hand-whipping some cream for an accompaniment. Hurrah!
-cvj
