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Cooking over fire/in search of thick pastry recipe

Discussion in 'Non-Vegas Chat' started by HoyaHeel, Sep 18, 2020.

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  1. HoyaHeel

    HoyaHeel Grammar Police & Admin

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    We recently watched an episode of Taste of History where they cooked a chicken leek pie in a dutch oven over the fire. I want to make it! But that isn't one of the recipes they have posted online and I'm not a good enough cook (well, baker!) to figure out an appropriate crust. I also can't easily get suet so don't want to replicate what they did exactly anyway. We have the fire, we have the cast iron dutch oven to use in campfires, I have the chicken & leeks....Just need ideas for pastry....(top and bottom). Bakers, can you help me out here??

    https://www.pbs.org/video/historic-locust-grove-sfmatu/
     
  2. bubbakitty

    bubbakitty Doing retirement again and happily so....

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    Are you at home cooking over an open fire or out in the boonies? Sounds like a fun project but need more information.
     
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  3. bubbakitty

    bubbakitty Doing retirement again and happily so....

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    Ok. It looked like a pie crust. Sorta. I’d just go with store bought quality pie crust and try it first. Look for a recipe after you know it works. Or wait 10 minutes and someone else will have an idea :)
     
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  4. HoyaHeel

    HoyaHeel Grammar Police & Admin

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    Both. At home, we have a large outdoor fire pit (a friend made for us - it's a 6' steel tank end cut off, with welded legs and rim). We live in the boonies ;-) And we got 3" rain yesterday, so no fire concerns (we're in NC; sometimes we have fire bans due to dryness & wind and we always comply).

    It's too hot for me to want a bonfire in the summer but it's cooling down nicely - highs around 62 this weekend, colder at night - perfect for fire, and to try to cook. We have a couple of cast iron pots we inherited we use only for cooking on the fire, and we have a grate for cooking, AND we have a board we use when we hot smoke salmon like they do at German Christmas markets :)
     
  5. HoyaHeel

    HoyaHeel Grammar Police & Admin

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    Yeah, the crust they used was SO thick - looked like 3/4" thick to me! That is NOT a standard pie crust. A baker friend suggested I use scone dough, with a blend of whole wheat & white flours. So that's my leading idea at the moment....
     
  6. HoyaHeel

    HoyaHeel Grammar Police & Admin

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    The past 2 Thanksgivings, we have roasted a duck on our fire. Just me & hubs, sitting outside drinking & listening to music. Nice way to spend a holiday ;-) roasting duck.jpg Thanksgiving duck.jpg
     
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  7. bubbakitty

    bubbakitty Doing retirement again and happily so....

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    My wife looked. Not knowing how fast it will cook from bottom up or evenly she suggested a simple pie crust you would use on a pot pie, or chicken and dumplings, or cherry pie. Light tasting and containment is its mission.
    Good luck and post pictures of the final product.
     
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  8. Ten_On_The_End

    Ten_On_The_End VIP Whale

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    Can you get beef suet? Usually a butcher shop or meat department at a grocery would have it. You'd probably have to render it yourself but if you're cooking over fire you're probably willing to do it. You know, the real deal. Lots of suet crust recipes online. I use an oil pie crust but it doesn't roll well, more of a press in by hand with a crumb topping for pies. I refuse to cook with shortning (Crisco), more plastic than it is food. Ugh. I never use store bought crust either but to each their own.
     
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  9. HoyaHeel

    HoyaHeel Grammar Police & Admin

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    I tried to buy suet - my regular store no longer carries it. I'd try the butcher shop, though they didn't have schmaltz when I asked last time (they did give me 4 lbs of chicken trimmings free with the rest of my order, though -going to render my own & make chopped liver this weekend) I don't really like beef much, which is why I don't feel like going out of my way to find suet....
     
  10. hammie

    hammie VIP Whale

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    I'm not much of a baker, but I wondered how baking parchment would work at the bottom of the dutch oven? Not sure if it would burn. It would act as a release agent to keep the dough from sticking to the bottom.

    I enjoy Taste of History and chef Walter Staib. I have wanted to go to his restaurant in Philly: City Tavern but never made it.

    I saw an episode where he made braised short ribs in a dutch oven over an open fire and a brown sauce with shallots, butter, beef marrow and red wine. He also made a gratin with home-made dumplings (the PA Dutch kind....think really thick noodles), eggs, Gruyere cheese that looked incredible. https://www.pbs.org/video/remember-paoli-g6zzzr/
     
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  11. HoyaHeel

    HoyaHeel Grammar Police & Admin

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    I'm actually not too worried about the bottom crust. I'll well grease the pot but if (when...I'm new and not very good at fire cooking) it burns, we'll still have the top crust ;-) When I do a regular pot pie in the oven, I only do a top crust so we're used to that.

    I'd think parchment would burn. Even when we try, we cook too hot (we make good coals!) Last I did in this dutch oven was a potato thing and they burned on the bottom too. And got some ash in when my husband's newly welded tool pushed the lid too far....
     
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  12. Ten_On_The_End

    Ten_On_The_End VIP Whale

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    How about lard ? Plenty of it on Amazon. Take a look at pasty (not pastry) dough. It's pretty much unknown outside of Wisconsin and Minnesota but it's a hearty crust.
     
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  13. HoyaHeel

    HoyaHeel Grammar Police & Admin

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    I've made cornish pasties before - don't love the recipe I used for that. But that is the right kind of recipe I've been looking at!
     
  14. Valgal

    Valgal VIP Whale

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    The Townsends Revolutionary Cooking channel on YouTube — my husband is into that right now. Lots of episodes on Dutch oven/open fire cooking.
     
  15. LolaDoggie

    LolaDoggie VIP Whale

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    OK, the baddest camprfre ninjas I have ever seen were people who had done scouts and girl guides forever. I would do some googly googling using those search terms. It might not be fancy.
     
  16. HoyaHeel

    HoyaHeel Grammar Police & Admin

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    We cooked over the fire yesterday and it was PERFECT!!! Seriously cannot believe how well it turned out. I cooked the chicken leek mushroom filling to thicken the sauce. Had a pastry in my freezer (I made a double batch last time - forgot I had it) and used that as the bottom crust. For the top crust, I used an herb/cheese scone dough with 1/4 white whole wheat flour and 3/4 unbleached AP flour. I did also use parchment paper to line the dutch oven and I think that helped. There was a small section of darker crust - not quite burned but close - so I know the paper helped a little. Certainly easier to clean the dutch oven afterwards! We decided to cook on the grate instead of in the coals to keep it more of a low & slow cook job. Rotated the pan every 15 minutes, added some coals to the top of the dutch oven and rotated the lid as well. Kept an eye on temps with a temp gun and adjusted (moved) the fire/coals as needed. At the end, moved the pot into the coals for the last 10 minutes to get more of a brown on the top crust. A little extra "goo" leaked out - oops - but still think it looks lovely. And it tasted great!!!
     

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  17. flyguyfl

    flyguyfl MIA

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    Looks tasty. If you decide to do that in Vegas in the summer. Just prep it and put it on the sidewalk!
     
  18. hammie

    hammie VIP Whale

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    Or at Vdara poolside when the afternoon death rays come out.
     
  19. HoyaHeel

    HoyaHeel Grammar Police & Admin

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    This was our first bonfire since...May, maybe? Definitely too hot for me to want to sit next to a fire during an NC summer.
     
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