I’m so happy to be in the depths of autumn! The chilly weather, the fallen leaves, the festive foods, the heady wood smoke in the air—I just love everything about it!
For this month’s recipe I thought I’d pull out one of my Farm Journal & Farmer’s Wife magazines. I grabbed the November 1942 issue which was the first Thanksgiving after the U.S. had entered the war. The Fat Salvage Program was in full swing, and there’s this great article in this issue called “Fat’s in the Fight.” All the recipes use a creative, thrifty mixture of fats so that no animal fat is wasted in the kitchen.
The recipe I’m sharing is for “Flaky Pastry”! It’s definitely different than our standard shortening or butter crusts, so this recipe might be a challenging exercise for us modern folks. I encourage you to give it a try! You never know when this thrifty skill might come in handy!
Flaky Pastry
2 1/2 c. sifted flour
1 tsp. salt
1/2 c. chicken fat, clarified and chilled*
1/4 c. lard
4 to 5 Tbsp. cold water
Mix and sift flour and salt into a bowl. Add cold, clarified chicken fat, blend in with fork or mixer until like coarse meal. Then cut lard in coarsely, like peas. Sprinkle in water, mixing lightly. Roll out. Makes 2 crusts.**
*The article offers advice on how to clarify fat: “To free used fats, drippings, etc., from bits of food and objectionable odor. FOR CLEANING: (1) Good for hard fats: melt the fat with an equal volume of water, boil 5 to 10 minutes, not too vigorously. Strain through a fine-meshed cloth placed over a strainer. When cold and hard, lift fat off of the water, remove any bits of food. Store in a cool, dark place. TO RID OF ODOR: (2) Heat the fat gradually with slices of raw potato, until the potato slices are browned and fat no longer bubbles, then strain through fine-meshed cloth set in a strainer.”
**Keep in mind that pie tins were a couple inches smaller back then, not to mention more shallow, so this probably makes 1 1/2 crusts-worth for modern pie plates.