3 Likes
Sharp clag is good as long as it is in the correct ratio to pastry. This is where the deep fill catches out the unwary.
The slaughterman who is straight of limb and true of eye will avoid these abominations and seek the golden ratio.
1 Like
…straight of limb and true of eye… ok. Who would that be?
Which book is it in? I think we have most of them here!
Sorry Jon , mincemeat was rc , pastry was Paul Hollywood’s if I now remember rightly
For the pastry
375g plain flour
260g unsalted butter, softened
125g caster sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
1 large egg, plus 1 beaten egg for glazing
Method
-
Place 375g plain flour and 260g softened unsalted butter in a bowl and rub together to to a crumb
-
Add 125g caster sugar and 1 large beaten egg, and mixtogether.
-
Tip out onto a lightly floured surface and fold until the pastry comes together, be careful not to over mix.
-
Wrap the pastry in cling film and chill for 10 mins.( More like half an hour, it gets unworkable if the room is warm etc)
4a this is the key to the whole bake …keep cool as long as possible -
Fill with mm
-
Heat oven to 220C/200C fan/gas 7.
-
Roll out the pastry to 3mm thick.( See 4a)
-
Using a round cutter (about 10cm), cut out 16 bases and place them into muffin trays. Put 1½ tbsp mincemeat mixture into each. Brush the edge of each pie with a little beaten egg.
-
Re-roll out the pastry to cut 7cm lids and press them on top to seal. Glaze with the beaten egg, sprinkle with the extra caster sugar, then make a small cut in the tops.
-
Bake the mince pies for 15-20 mins until golden brown. Leave to cool before releasing them from the muffin trays and dusting with a little more icing sugar before serving.
1 Like
The clag question vexes me. Ruprecht says that “no pie should have a texture like clay” and Stu mentions filler foam. The Zig doesnt like his teeth filled and yet bucket boy says that “sharp clag” is good.
Is clag just texture, or is taste a factor?
Yes.
1 Like
To me, The Clag is stickiness.
Wishy washy wetness in mincemeat is wholly unacceptable, and is usually accompanied with an excess of cheap sweetness.
A relatively shallow pie with a good sharp, fruity meat can carry some clag because it complements the pastry.
Enough po-faced twattery… more pics of pies.
Biding my time. When December comes.
1 Like
It’s a Zen thing.
But everyone else is saying that clag is the result of pastry texture and you are saying the opposite. I’m agnostic myself, just wanting to get to the bottom of things.
Clag is the new pie buzz word, there was no mention of it in a thousand posts in 2018. I want to understand if it is a thing and if it is, what that thing is.
if it sticks to the lining of the mouth in an unpleasant way - its a clag. If it sticks to your anal hairs it’s a cleg.
2 Likes
What is the difference between claggy and soggy pastry? I haz the confuz now. However, as it is still November I have no fucks to give about this yet. I am sure clag is only a concern for the premature pie munchers amongst us. Unresolved clag issues in December could be a source of mild irritation in proper pie season however.
Most soggy pastry will be claggy, but it’s the surprise clag from otherwise sound looking pastry that is most disappointing.
clag is the mouthfeel textural outcome of soggy pastry
Stronzetto would like to have it explained why: ‘Good will to all men’ is acceptable one day a year and completely dismissed the remaining 364? Why romance is similarly shoe horned into 24 hours? But above all this why some delicious pastry with fruity filling can only be eaten during a certain juncture in the planets journey around the sun?
But is this surprise clag down to some kind of relationship with the mince as @A_Touch_of_Cloth seems to be saying and further more is it, can it be pleasurable?
This is where the GAG (Gelatinous Adhesion Gradient) factor comes into play.
Clag-pleasure is time dependent.
4 Likes