Butter vs shortening for pie crust?

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I'm impressed. They look so great. I bet they tasted just as good! :)
 
I use my grandmother's recipe--1/4 c lard, 1/4 c Crisco, 1-1/2 c AP flour, 1/2 tsp salt, 4-5 T ice water, 1 T vinegar and I've started to add 1 tsp vodka.

The lard will be objectionable if you are feeding any Jewish friends who keep kosher, and if you have any Muslim friends, the lard and the vodka together would be a double whammy.
 
I use 2/3 cup lard, 2 cups of flour, 5 tbsps ice water and a tsp of vinegar. I'm going to try the vodka thing though for my next pie!

SLOB, I can't speak for CWS, but I'm well aware of which friends keep kosher and I'd be pretty careful not to serve them a pie made with lard! Good of you to mention it for the newbies though.
 
I use 2/3 cup lard, 2 cups of flour, 5 tbsps ice water and a tsp of vinegar. I'm going to try the vodka thing though for my next pie!

SLOB, I can't speak for CWS, but I'm well aware of which friends keep kosher and I'd be pretty careful not to serve them a pie made with lard! Good of you to mention it for the newbies though.
+1

I use the recipe on the Tenderflake package and make three pie crusts at a time if I'm not making a butter pie crust. Sounds like you got the Tenderflake recipe too. ;)
 
+1

I use the recipe on the Tenderflake package and make three pie crusts at a time if I'm not making a butter pie crust. Sounds like you got the Tenderflake recipe too. ;)

Indeedy I do! I've yet to have it fail. I think most Canadian piemakers use Tenderflake! I only make mine one at a time though. I smash too many frozen crusts!
 
Indeedy I do! I've yet to have it fail. I think most Canadian piemakers use Tenderflake! I only make mine one at a time though. I smash too many frozen crusts!
I use it mostly for tourtière and make three tourtières at a time and freeze two. That reminds me. I should make some tourtière soon. It's that time of the year and Stirling really likes my tourtière (Madame Benoit's recipe)
 
taxlady said:
I use it mostly for tourtière and make three tourtières at a time and freeze two. That reminds me. I should make some tourtière soon. It's that time of the year and Stirling really likes my tourtière (Madame Benoit's recipe)

Okay, for those of us country folk who don't talk French, what is a tourtiere? :grin:
Does it have ordinary ingredients I can find in an ordinary US grocery store and aren't very expensive? I also don't have alcohol in the house.
 
Sounds good. I'll have to try it sometime. Does it freeze well? Three pies would be way too much for just me or even shared with my parents. There isn't a butcher shop around here so I'd have to buy 1 lb. packages of meat anyway. I guess I could reduce the recipe and make a meatloaf with the extra meat.
 
Sounds good. I'll have to try it sometime. Does it freeze well? Three pies would be way too much for just me or even shared with my parents. There isn't a butcher shop around here so I'd have to buy 1 lb. packages of meat anyway. I guess I could reduce the recipe and make a meatloaf with the extra meat.
It freezes great. Yes, it would be too much for you and your parents. You can make a filling meal with one piece (1/8 of a pie) of tourtière, gravy, some taters, and some pickled beets. That's the traditional way to serve it. (or with baked beans) Some plain boiled or steamed vegis with butter is not untraditional.

We cut each pie into eight pieces and wrap them individually and freeze them. We usually put the pieces back on the pie plate to freeze, so they don't break. Then when they are frozen, we take them off the pie plate.

We just nuke them to heat them up.

It's not a lot more work to make three pies at once than it is to make one.
 
Depending on where you are, it can be made in a springform pan and includes wild game. Along the coast, it often is made with salmon. The name "tourtiere" comes from the Que. word for pigeon (tourte--my spelling my be off--I am too lazy tonight to dig out my Quebec French dictionary) because the "pies" were often made with pigeon or other fowl.

Tourtiere: A French-Canadian Twist On Christmas Pie : The Salt : NPR

MM #8 – Savory Cakes – Tourtière Bonne Femme | Foodfreak
 
Depending on where you are, it can be made in a springform pan and includes wild game. Along the coast, it often is made with salmon. The name "tourtiere" comes from the Que. word for pigeon (tourte--my spelling my be off--I am too lazy tonight to dig out my Quebec French dictionary) because the "pies" were often made with pigeon or other fowl.

Tourtiere: A French-Canadian Twist On Christmas Pie : The Salt : NPR

MM #8 – Savory Cakes – Tourtière Bonne Femme | Foodfreak
It was the passenger pigeon, which is now extinct. That's why I suggest ground chicken or turkey. Here in Quebec, we often see a "tourtière mix" of ground pork, ground beef, and ground veal in one package. Personally, I don't think the difference between veal and beef is enough to justify the extra expense. Experience has taught me that almost any ground meat can be used, but don't leave out the pork. I have used moose, venison, snowshoe hare, as well as the more ordinary meats. It all works well as long as you don't leave out the pork.
 
FWIW, ATK did a segment on vodka pie crust. Using alcohol for 1/2 of the liquid works for a flaky, tender pie crust because alcohol doesn't bind with the protein (gluten) in the flour, only 1/2 of the alcohol is water, so you use less water, which results in less gluten. The alcohol evaporates while cooking. The ATK site probably explains it better than I can. I couldn't find this thread fast enough to quote the guy.
 
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