What does pastry bring to a dish?
Pastry adds a crisp texture, and can make a dish more suitable for informal occasions. It also adds fat and starch, of course. If you have a dish with a very creamy texture, a pastry case gives it bite and body. Food served as a pie or tart is easier to serve, and looks neater as the centrepiece of a table setting or buffet. It travels better, eg. for a picnic, and is easier to eat with the fingers, eg. pork pies, pasties, sausage rolls or jam tarts. On formal occasions, the pastry can be decorated and/or glazed; the informal buffet or picnic looks better with summat more rustic. For household convenience and economy, readymade pastry from the freezer is a godsend – it comes in shortcrust or puff, and in the form of filo sheets and wonton skins. I’d use the latter for a sweet&sour filling as being closer to the ethnic origins of the dish. The medieval cook would use a pastry crust (known then as a “coffin”!) to contain meat and protect it from ash during the baking process; it would no
