An afternoon of blending butter, flour and eggs had its ups and downs. The ups coincided with the opening of the oven door to remove a piping hot dish surmounted by a crisp golden crown of egg washed shortcrust pastry, whilst the downs did not. I take a certain comfort from the amateurism of my efforts in the pastry arena and still treat the magical transition of a ball of dough into something delicious to eat, flawed as it may be, as a triumph. Cooking is like photography, is like swimming, is like loving, is like anything that takes time, commitment and continual practice to perfect or even to make reasonable, perfection being that state which continually moves closer to the horizon in direct relation to our awareness that such a state might exist. That’s why those of us humans who really feel the need to cook, snap, doggypaddle or love are separated by a mile from those who don’t.
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That looks close to perfection….I’m longing to know what’s under the pastry, though.
Thanks for that. The first attempt didn’t look so good.Roger
The reward for your efforts are a beautiful photo, no doubt a delicious pie (and much more!)
Pie details tomorrow, and thanks Roger
Beautiful pastry – I’d like to know what’s underneath too
That’s an amazing effort for an amateur pastry maker and great photograph. Gosh, I haven’t eaten a pie with decent pastry in years …
Then again, I haven’t eaten wonderful Thai noodles in years, or any of the other delicious things that I know that you make. Roger
Nothing amateur going on there…and yes, do tell, what´s under the pastry? We´ll all be so sad if you say there was nothing
All will be revealed – it’s not that exciting but it tasted delicious, and that’s the idea I think Roger
Amateur? Could standards be so different across The Pond? I should send you pics of some of my pie efforts and I will, once they qualify for amateur ranking. Well, my foibles aside, your dish looks wonderful, Roger.
Hi there My head swells with pride when I read your comments. If only I could make my own puff pastry that did the same. All the best Roger
This looks absolutely divine and worthy of top shelf in any bakery. Nice photography!
We shoot such different things and I love your appreciation. If only there was more graffiti done by local farmers!Roger
haha! I am sure there is graffiti out there in the French countryside! I hope you find it and share it in a post
Doesn’t look amateur to me!
You sweet talking Southern dude.All the bestRoger
I love pies, my secret dream is to have a pie shop! c
I’ve got a feeling you’d make a brilliant job of it Roger
I like the volcanic looking hump in the middle. Very different and interesting looking in a pie crust.
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