Heart to Hearth Cookery

Delighted with my Lamb Pastey

  Today after what seems like years of preparation, I (with the assistance of great support from volunteer hearth cooks) was successful in reproducing the coffin design for  a Lamb Pastey!  I will be using exclamation points throughout this post, as I do not think there are words that can express the feelings that I had when I opened the door of the bake oven and found this beautifully browned coffin!  (Note: the darkened areas are the effect of the heat of the oven on the parchment paper that I decided to use to line my tin baking sheet.)  The process started at about 10:30 a.m. with the melting of the lard in hot water and weighing of 3 pounds of flour.  Visitors watched as each sheet of coffin paste was rolled and cut to shape and patiently placed on the coffin.  I was still working on the coffin decorations at 3:30 p.m. to complete the bird sitting in a tree with intricate designs and leaves around the central motif.  I opened the door and removed the magnificent coffin at 4:19 p. m.  Seeing the results, made all the research, tool acquisition and anxiety over the end results, WORTHWHILE!!!!  Perhaps my picture with the coffin, at left, shows some of the absolute delight I was feeling holding this masterpiece coffin.  Teaching hearth cooking and baking techniques is something I delight in doing as well,  I have a filled hearth cooking class March 20th at Bolton Mansion, but still have some openings in the class at the same location on March 27th.  And May 22nd, 2010, I will be teaching 18th century confectionery skills.  Come join me in the fun!  Visit my website www.hearttohearthcookery.com for more information.