Saturday 8 December 2012

Another Snippet from 'Odes to the Big City'


Here is another part of the book I am writing set in Eighteenth Century London. This segment talks about the perfect venison pasty. I'm mainly posting this bit to see if I get as many bizarre non-sequitor comments from bakers as I got from bloody locksmiths.




Now, the making of a pasty is a delicate thing, for the pastry is not the kindest of taskmasters. The consistency has to be exact, the levels and the mixing and kneading must all be done in the correct way to stop the pastry from being being as tough as a brick. This care must also be taken to the meat filling of the pasty; the meat must be hung right, tenderised correctly and stewed perfectly or the meat will either be a stringy mess or unchewable lumps of charcoal. The ingredients of a venison pasty are also of vital importance, it is advisable that the cook creating the pasty should find the best pieces of venison that can be afforded and when the source of that meat is scarce they should perhaps extend the venison with a firm meat like beef. A really fine venison pasty tends not to be filled with the meat of a rat.






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