It's the morning after, and I am thankful for all you good people who took the time to post and get me through a bad moment. I learned from your posts, and I laughed with your posts. Most importantly, I found out that even on a cooking forum, not everyone makes the perfect, flaky, homemade pie crust. Thank you for telling me that I am not alone. I am through with pies and pie crusts. This year will have been the 20th year of trying, and it was the worst yet. It is time to move on. I am a market gardener, and I grow wonderful organic strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and rhubarb. When I bake with the fruit, I do a crisp, a cobbler, or a tart. DS has a love of pumpkin pie, and I think my efforts are emotionally entwined with being the "good mother", but I am going to find a good bakery next year. You are all right- there is more than one way to skin a cat (that is a horrible saying isn't it?) I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. You all helped make mine a good one. :)

As mentioned many times, my favourite method is the High Heat Method of Barbara Kakfa's. Produces a perfectly every time. I usually take my beef out of the oven when the temperature reaches 115 to 120°. As it rests for 15 to 20 minutes the internal temperature will rise another 5 to 10 degrees. Home Cookin 4.9 Chapter: Recipes From Thibeault's Table High Heat cooking Instructions ============================== . General Instructions (for Barbara Kafka's "Roasting A Simple Art") "Different meats and different cuts have different cooking times. That's why there are recipes. I did try to find a universal rule so that I could say as I do for fish, "ten minutes per inch" or for chicken "ten minutes per pound," and then describe the exceptions. It didn't work. Timing is as much a factor of fat content, bone content, and the shape of the roast as a specific kind of meat. The only easy rules are for boneless loin of pork or beef (the shell or strip) and venison and beef fillet. They always cook in the same amount of time since the only way they increase in size is according to their length, which will not influence the cooking time." This is her recipe for a Simple Rib Roast 4 1/2 pound without short ribs Standing rib roast (2 Ribs) or 26 Pound standing rib roast (7 ribs total) 2 to 6 cloves garlic, peeled and slivered Kosher salt to taste Freshly ground black pepper 1/2 to 2 1/2 cups red wine for deglazing 1 recipe for Yorkshire pudding. Roast should be at room temperature, not taken directly from the fridge. Place oven rack on the second level from the bottom. Heat oven to 500°F. Place small roast in a 14 X 12 X2 inch roasting pan. bone side down. The large roast will need an 18 X 13 X 2 inch roasting pan. Snuggle most of the garlic, is using, under the fat and spread remainder under the meat. Season well with salt and pepper. Roast for 45 minutes. With meat in oven, reduce heat to 325° and roast for an additional 3 minutes per pound.( i.e.: 4lb =12minutes, 7lb = 21 minutes, 26 lb =78 minutes) etc..Increase heat to 450°F and roast for another 15 minutes regardless of size. Meat temperature should read 135 on an instant - read thermometer. If you like it more rare, reduce the additional 3 minutes per pound to 2 minutes or for less rare, increase the 3 minutes to 5 minutes. Remove roast from oven. Transfer to a serving platter. Pour or spoon off excess fat, reserving about 1/8 cup to 1/4 cup of fat. Put pan over high heat and add wine. Deglaze pan well scraping with a wooden spoon. Let reduce by half. Pour liquid into a small saucepan and reserve. For Whole New York Strip Loin, the directions are a little bit different. According to Barbara Kafka's instructions, it doesn't matter what size the New York strip roast is the directions are the same. Roasted New York Strip Loin one 10 pound New York Strip (16 inches) Trussed 1 head of garlic cloves lightly smashed and peeled, optional 3 to 4 springs fresh thyme kosher salt pepper 1 1/2 cup basic beef stock or a combination of beef stock, veal stock or red wine 2 tablespoons basic veal glaze optional. Place oven rack on second level from the top of the oven, or second from the bottom if the fat cover is thick. Heat oven to 500°F. Place strip of beef in an 18 x 12 x 2 inch roasting pan. If using, slip whole cloves of garlic between underside of meat and string. Tuck in the thyme. Slip some more garlic under the string along the top of the meat. Sprinkle the meat on all sides liberally with salt and pepper. Put into oven one hour before it will be served. Roast for 40 to 45 minutes. Remove and transfer meat to a platter. Cut off strings. Remove the garlic cloves that are too blackened to use. Pour fat from pan. Put the roasting pan on top of the stove. Add stock or wine and the veal glaze, if using and bring to a boil, scraping the bottom vigorously with a wooden spoon. Add flavorings, if using, and any juices that have collected in the platter on which the beef is resting. Let reduce by half. Taste for salt and pepper, pour into a sauceboat and serve. Roasted Whole beef Fillet According to Barbara........"I buy the meat by the inch. It cooks exactly the same way no matter the length as long as it s more than 4 inches long. When ordering, I usually allow about an inch and a quarter per person and an extra half inch for the two end slices. By this rule, six people will require an eight inch piece of fillet. The muscles in a fillet all run lengthwise so that when it is sliced a crossed the serving it is also tenderized. The fillet is also called the tenderloin, and it is tender. It is a long round muscle that hides behind the bones on which the shell steak and the rib roast reside. T-bone steaks have some of the shell and, on the other side of the bone, a circle of the fillet, or tenderloin. A filet mignon is a slice cut a crossed the whole fillet to make an individual steak. 4 to 5 pound whole beef fillet (about 3 to 3 1/2 inches in diameter, a good 18 inches long) 1 tablespoon unsalted butter at room temperature 1 tablespoon olive oil 2 teaspoons kosher salt 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 3/4 cup red wine for deglazing, optional, or 1 recipe semi-perigourdine sauce Place oven rack on second level from bottom. heat oven to 500°F Place fillet in an 18 x 12 x 2 inch roasting pan. Rub fillet with butter and oil. Sprinkle evenly with salt and pepper. roast for 10 minutes. turn. roast 10 minutes more. Transfer fillet to a serving platter. Pour or spoon off excess fat. Put pan on top of the burner. Add the wine or sauce and bring contents to a boil while scraping the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Let reduce by half. Season with salt and pepper. And if you have time, definitely presalt.

I made popovers for years...it was my make a bad meal better trick...easy...put it into the blender and then into custard cups and into the oven... Then one day they didn't pop....and I couldn't make them for years. Then someone suggested adding an extra egg white....and I did and haven't had a failure since. I think the eggs Iw as buying got smaller! I never preheat the pans and I sometimes let the batter rest....sometimes not....never in the refrig for 3 hours....and in the past 30 years they ALWAYS pop! I think ti's about the eggs. I 1/4 cups of spooned AP f;lour 1 1/4 cups milk Bit of salt and herbs if desired 4 eggs and an extra white....grease pans...but I don't put anye xtra grease in the pans, heat oven to 450, pour batter into popover pans and into the oven for 18 to 20 minutes, turn oven down to 325 witho0ut opening the door and bake another 15 to 20 minutes.

There are a great many recipes, and a great deal of crossover, but I also think that what we call a Yorkshire pudding, at least in some parts or subcultures of the USA is just somewhat different to what it is in the UK. I trust Islay Corbel as to what real Yorkshire pudding from actual Yorkshire, England is. We have denser flatter ones here, compared with popovers. It's like the "American pie" thing. A whole nation was appalled and nattering at the definition of "American pie" on The Great British Bake Off/Baking Show (same show, different names for legal reasons). Paul Hollywood, the utterer of said definition is indeed a baking expert, so I accept that open faced sugar bombs, if I remember right and haven't blocked it out, is the definition of "American Pie" there. I'm sure such things do exist here, but the iconic "American as apple pie" pie, has a top crust and is sweetened but also has a sour component--think Granny Smith apples. We add rhubarb to strawberry pies, lemon to blueberry pies, etc, to give them more complexity and to battle the sugar. And now that the sugar isn't an essential preservative (think post ice box), we use a lot less of it too. What Mr. H described, sounded to me more like a jam tart. But we call anything with spinach "Florentine" and outside of California, adding avocado to a sandwich, among other things, gets it called by the name of the state (CA) that's famous for growing them. So the average English "American pie" is just something a bit different than ours. More specific, yet slightly off from our norm. Same with American Yorkshire pudding, which might even be a popover with a fancy name. OTOH, the more golden popover in the Pittsburgh picture I posted looks "better" to me and I posted the Martha picture to show what the bottom looks like out of the pan. They're a little dark. They're both made in deep, tall popover pans. Those are usually dark as well, and the crust can kind of fry in the fat and dark well. Of course, oven time also affects them. Martha's have popped, but to me look like they had too much flour, and are breadier than eggier inside. That's a choice. It depends how you like it. I like eggier with the big topknot. Popovers made in shorter, wider cups are more likely to fall (leave in cooling oven with the door open to stabilize and steam off. Other kinds of smooth, eggy batters can pop too.