Tropicalsenior

To find a good recipe for meat pies you might want to look for recipes from the UK. They've been doing them for centuries and seem to be doing a pretty good job of it. Whenever I see them on programs, I always think that I would like to make some pork pies. Then I read through a mountain of recipes and decide maybe not. However, it seems that most of them use lard or a combination of lard and butter, and they use the hot water method to make them. Here is one recipe that I found that seems to be what you might want. If you have problems with pastry shrinking, it isn't the recipe it is the way in which you handle the dough. When placing it in your molds, you have to be very careful that you don't stretch the dough as you put it in. Make sure that the bottom is pressed flat then gently shape it up the sides without stretching it. That way it will be completely pressed into your form and will not stretch out when the heat hits it. It seems to me that this would be an excellent idea for a cook-off. Aren't we just about due?

Are you looking for a flaky crust or something sturdier like the English meat pies?

Thank you so much. I've spent all afternoon trying to think of the name of this and Googling didn't help me a bit. However, Google found it for me this time.

You can also make a slurry with flour and water. Or if you don't want to water down the flavor take out a little of the broth while it is still cold and mix the flour into that. You just want to cook the soup or stew a little longer than you would with cornstarch.

I've always been fascinated by food history. YouTube has quite a few that are really good. I enjoy this one about Royal menus because the recipes are interesting and the people on the program are absolutely delightful.

I've watched him a few times on YouTube. This is his channel.

I just found an interesting article on molasses. It is not as sweet as maple syrup and it is thicker so maybe you could use less molasses as a binder then you would need for maple syrup. That way you could cut sweetness two ways.

In cooking there is really no such thing as a stupid question. If you don't know you don't know and the wonderful thing about this group is that somebody is bound to know. By the way, I just asked Google which is sweeter, honey or maple syrup. I was informed that honey is much sweeter than maple syrup so you can forget my stupid answer.

Could you possibly use honey in the recipe? If maple flavor is what you are going for, you could then use a little bit of maple extract. I've used some Maple extracts that are pretty good.

Not only will it taste better you will use a heck of a lot less coffee.

Except for the seasonings, that sounds an awful lot like an Indian tomato soup that I used to make. Very simple and delicious. I'm going to have to see if I can find the recipe.

Seems kind of weird. Too bad we don't have an emoji for that.

There's nothing at all wrong with your English. I think the discussion has veered into the question of whether cold brewed coffee is necessary to make good cold coffee drinks. It seems to me that it is an unnecessary, expensive procedure.

I remember buying some dried seahorses at a museum when I was a kid. I think I paid a quarter a piece for them.

Good point! My pot of coffee always gets drunk within an hour of being made but it is still vile when it is cold.