Vintage Hot Water Pastry
- Total Time: 0 hours
Description
My mother made this pastry recipe from farm-fresh pork lard, likely rendered by her mom. Later, she purchased a similar product from the butcher shop. I have occasionally used brand name lard from grocery stores, but it doesn’t taste quite the same. You will find extra ingredients in boxed lard designed to increase shelf life.
I like to buy lard from a farm like Saskatchewan’s Pineview Farms where it is rendered in their butcher shop and kept in a refrigerator. I store it accordingly when I arrive home. When I make my family’s traditional homemade mincemeat, as featured in Prairies North Magazine, winter issue, 2019, I use this pastry recipe and farm rendered lard to make my memories complete.
Mixing hot water with flour and lard defies the pastry science we learned in Home Economics. However, this recipe is easy, fast, keeps for a week in the fridge, and rolls like a dream. I have found versions of this recipe in cookbooks dating back to the 1920s. It has stood the taste of time.
Ingredients
- 1/2 a pound of lard (I use farm rendered lard and remove it from the refrigerator to soften, a few hours ahead of mixing.)
- 1/2 cup of boiling water
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (spoon flour into cup and level with a knife)
- 1/2 teaspoon of salt
- 1 teaspoon of baking powder
Instructions
Cream lard with a beater or whisk
Add the boiling water and whisk until smooth
Add the dry ingredients all at once and mix with a spoon.
When mixed, put the pastry into a bowl, cover with a lid, and chill until ready to use.
This pastry keeps in the fridge for a week and is ready to top a turkey pot pie or quickly make tarts for dessert. It is easily doubled.
- Prep Time: 10-15 minutes
- Category: Pastry and Pie Fillings
- Method: Boil
2 Responses
Thank you for this recipie! Must admit it is the weirdest recipe I have ever tried for pastry…but definatly thee essiest and i had a very fine flaky result! Number 1 in my books
Hi. My husband just picked up the Prairie North magazine. He showed me your pages of recipes and thought they were very interesting. I’ve been baking and cooking for 50 years and always like to ‚Äúread‚Äù recipes. I was interested in your Vintage Hot Water Pastry recipe. My Grandma taught me how to cook and bake as my husband and I moved to the farm when we first got married. She showed me how to render the lard from the pig we had butchered. And how to make her pastry from the lard. I found it was the flakiest best pastry ever. We’d use 1 lb of lard, 5 cups flour, 1 tsp. Baking powder, 2 tsp. Salt, 4 tsp. Brown sugar, 1 egg, 1 tablespoon vinegar and enough water to make 1 cup of liquid. Makes about 4-5 double crusts pies. My grandparents got married on November 24, 1923. The minister’s wife gave my grandma her recipe for Cranberry Pie. It is the best and a favourite for our families. I’ve always wondered how old is this recipe. 1 cup cranberries-halved, 3/4 cup sugar, 2 dessert spoons flour, 1 cup cold water, 1 tsp. Almond flavour. That’s all they had for the recipe. Just thought you may be interested in some old time news. Thanks. Donna Marie