Time is of the essence
OK!? What are we talking about today, please?
OK…
I was born in 1973 and that year there were 3.912 billion people on the surface of Earth. In the 1970s the oil crisis was on, the 3 day week, frighteningly high inflation and difficultly in making ends meet for many in the UK.
Today there are 7.674 billion. That means much of what we do today needs to adapt to ensure everyone has a share of water, power, heat, land and food. Some may say power and heat are the same thing but power, such as transport and medical care, needs to come from assured sources rather than heat which can be generated by simply burning materials.
We digress. Thing is, people like hot food. It gives us more accessible nutrients and it may partly be how humans have achieved so much. An earl in Sandwich put things between two slices of bread but since then such meals have been roasted and toasted all requiring power.
I am putting together a small picnic for tomorrow and much as my mum would have, I’m using as much home cooked fare as possible. This is kind of the point of this piece.
Oh? There is one, is there?
Yes: should you blind bake a flan? I have three cook books from various eras all saying different things.
I do know that my mum doesn’t bother. Given the fact there’s so much call on electricity and gas these days, I’m inclined to agree with her.
The pastry does indeed need cooking – raw flour is not easily digested in the human gut. But if we’re doing that, shouldn’t we only do the job once?
The recipe I’m following to make a quiche lorraine says to roll out the pastry then fill and cook for 35-45 minutes. ( We’ll eat it hot tonight and then as a cold dish tomorrow lunch time with salad). But many (many) others say to cook the pastry for 15 minutes first then fill and cook for 35-45 minutes.
The idea of blind baking is to make a crispy base – for a quiche or lemon merringue pie which is when I tend to make flan bases, I don’t think that’s vital. I use a fan oven, which should also help the hot air to convect all the way round the pie dish too. The fan oven generally means you can cook at 20°C as the fan needs less power to achieve the same result.
So, for the planet, I am not going to be blind baking.
Not convinced this is where I thought this would be heading…
Posted: June 20th, 2021 under 42.