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[Bauglir]

If you have an adequately sharp knife, slice the segments thinly and top a pizza with them.

i have no reason to expect this to end in anything but comedy

[hops]

Why not try boiling them in syrup and then cool it?

[diabeetus intensifies]

[DJ]

So last night I made a savory pie. The filling was ground meat, mushrooms, a can of beans and a can of mixed vegetables, and it turned out really good. But then I ruined it all with the crust. I used 8 spoons of margarine and 8 spoons of lard with two cups of flour, and the texture turned out how I think it's supposed to (light and very crumbly), but the taste is simply not something that goes well (or at all) with a savory filling. What gives? I thought savory pies use the same kind of crust as sweet pies. Is this my mistake, or did I overlook something else? This my first time not only baking a pie, but also eating one, so I don't really have a frame of reference as to what's a pie supposed to be like.

[Neonivek]

Well here is something

You made a savory pie and for a crust you made a very savory crust

Also I thought savory pies use pastry crusts that are kind of like biscuits, not like... apple pie crusts.

Note: I am by far not an expert

[Arx]

So last night I made a savory pie. The filling was ground meat, mushrooms, a can of beans and a can of mixed vegetables, and it turned out really good. But then I ruined it all with the crust. I used 8 spoons of margarine and 8 spoons of lard with two cups of flour, and the texture turned out how I think it's supposed to (light and very crumbly), but the taste is simply not something that goes well (or at all) with a savory filling. What gives? I thought savory pies use the same kind of crust as sweet pies. Is this my mistake, or did I overlook something else? This my first time not only baking a pie, but also eating one, so I don't really have a frame of reference as to what's a pie supposed to be like.

The only difference I can think of is that I use puff pastry not shortcrust, although it's hard to say which you used from your post. It gives a nice tender 'lid' with a crispy top and sides that are either fairly neutral or fairly savoury in flavour.

[penguinofhonor]

My best guess is that the margarine and shortening didn't flavor yours as well as butter would - they are not fats that are prized for their flavor. Or you need to add salt, or maybe a dash of sugar. I've made a very good pie crust with just flour, butter, and a little salt and sugar.

[DJ]

Yeah, I think butter would've worked much better than margarine I reckon, but I didn't have any. Also, in retrospect, puff pastry makes a lot more sense than shortdough, but I googled pie crusts on the internet and basically all recipes I found were shortdough. I haven't really made it before, and all the times I've eaten it it was in a cake and it worked well there, but I just don't see how it's supposed to work with meat :/

[Arx]

My best guess is that the margarine and shortening didn't flavor yours as well as butter would - they are not fats that are prized for their flavor. Or you need to add salt, or maybe a dash of sugar. I've made a very good pie crust with just flour, butter, and a little salt and sugar.

I've had pretty tolerable pie crusts made with margarine. A little salt would probably be good, yeah - just don't overdo it.

[DJ]

I did actually use a teaspoon of salt, so it's not lacking in that department. It's just that the shortdough texture combined with meat flavor feels horribly wrong. And I still have half the pie left, and I hate to throw away food

[Baffler]

This might not be the best place to ask, but can someone recommend a good after-dinner wine I can get a bottle of for less than $60? I have a slight preference for imports but US domestic is fine. Quality matters more than quantity, but there needs to be enough for four people.

I can't give any specific brands, but if you're looking for a dessert wine you're likely looking for something sweet. If you want some very strong alcohol, some variation on port is a good bet. If you want something less alcoholic, anything made with grapes affected by noble rot will do well; look for Sauternes, Tokay (Tokaji, etc), or one of the German variants listed on that Wikipedia page. Finally, there's a kind I'm quite fond of that's so sweet as to be almost syrupy, and it has a nutty, almost pecan, flavor to it - I can't recall the name, unfortunately, but if you have a local store that carries quality wines, you may be able to find something similar by looking for a small (375 mL bottle) bottle of thick, golden-brown wine made from Moscato grapes.

For $60, you should be able to do quite well. In my experience, prices above $40 for dessert wines are for prestige more than quality (per 750 mL), unless you already know exactly what you want and the only producer that makes it charges exorbitantly.

Thanks for this. There is a quality wine shop nearby, and I'm sure they'll have the port at least (though whether or not it came from Portugal is another question entirely.) I'll post about how it goes afterward.

I know what they say about quoting yourself, but this happened yesterday. I got a bottle of Taylor Fladgate 10 year old tawny on the internet at the shop owner's recommendation for about $28, plus some shipping. I'm not really the type of guy who can describe the taste of something in a useful manner, but I can say that it was well worth the purchase. 8/10 would recommend.

[penguinofhonor]

Oh, the texture is wrong? Crust texture is more a matter of technique than ingredients. Is it flakey?

[DJ]

Does flakey mean it has no bend to it at all and instead just crumbles? If so, yes, very much so. Too much in fact. I'd prefer it if it was a little bit chewy, rather than just disintegrating on my teeth. Also, I think it's a bit too lardy. You can't actually taste the lard since it's flavor is so neutral, but it feels kinda heavy in the stomach and I assume that's the fat content.

Anyway, if the texture is supposed to turn out like this, I guess pies just aren't my thing. Well, it might work for me with apple filling, but it's unlikely so I'm not gonna waste materials on that.

[penguinofhonor]

Flakey crust isn't particularly bendy, but it should bend a little before it crumbles. And it should break up into flat flakes instead of round crumbs. I think the texture is a major improvement but you might be looking for something else. A puff pastry crust like Arx suggested should be chewier.

[DeKaFu]

Well, 'tis the season. I finally had a morning where everyone was out of the house so I could experiment in peace.

Two-egg Noglette
Cracked two eggs into a bowl and whisked them up. Added a pinch of cinnamon, grated in some fresh nutmeg, and added a hearty splash of store-bought eggnog. Cooked it up in a frying pan like a regular omelette. Didn't add any filling, because I frankly had no idea how it would come out.

Verdict:
Surprise, it came out tasting pretty much like eggnog. I may have been a bit too heavy-handed with it, because the cooked texture was super fluffy and somewhat lacking in structural integrity. It was also very sweet, as expected. In retrospect, I think it definitely needed some kind of savory filling to balance out the sweetness. Some chopped up breakfast sausage probably would have been great if I'd had some (but then I'm a monster who normally puts syrup on their sausages) or even some sharp cheddar, I don't know. Any suggestions?

[Ghills]

Well, 'tis the season. I finally had a morning where everyone was out of the house so I could experiment in peace.

Two-egg Noglette
Cracked two eggs into a bowl and whisked them up. Added a pinch of cinnamon, grated in some fresh nutmeg, and added a hearty splash of store-bought eggnog. Cooked it up in a frying pan like a regular omelette. Didn't add any filling, because I frankly had no idea how it would come out.

Verdict:
Surprise, it came out tasting pretty much like eggnog. I may have been a bit too heavy-handed with it, because the cooked texture was super fluffy and somewhat lacking in structural integrity. It was also very sweet, as expected. In retrospect, I think it definitely needed some kind of savory filling to balance out the sweetness. Some chopped up breakfast sausage probably would have been great if I'd had some (but then I'm a monster who normally puts syrup on their sausages) or even some sharp cheddar, I don't know. Any suggestions?

Ricotta cheese?