British Icons - Pie or Crumble?

In the old days, dinner was in the middle of the day and had two courses, meat and two veg followed by pie or crumble and custard.

My neighbour gave me some rhubarb yesterday, enough for a pie and a crumble.

With a large family and before central heating, pastry and crumble provided some cheap extra calories to add to seasonal fruit. All through the long winter it would be apple pie and apple crumble, but you knew Spring was on the way when the first long slim pink stems of rhubarb appeared in the shops.

One of the first things you learned in domestic science (cookery) at school was the rubbed in method. This was a way of combining fat and flour and formed the basis for pastry, crumbles and plain family cakes like raspberry buns. I learned how to make these at home, alongside my mum and great aunt, using spoons for measuring. It was only later at school that scales came into it.

The main measure was a tablespoon (about 15ml). A level tablespoon meant the bowl of the spoon was full. A rounded tablespoon meant there was about the same amount on top of the spoon as in the bowl, and a heaped tablespoon meant there was about twice as much on top of the spoon.

You needed different measures for flour (a heaped tablespoon) and sugar (a rounded tablespoon) - roughly equivalent to an ounce (about 28g).

The fat was important and could make or break your pastry. We used lard and Stork margarine then - half of each. The lard made the pastry soft, crisp and light. I usually use unsalted butter now, but that was considered luxury then. It was easy to measure the fat, it was sold in 8oz packs, so you used a whole or a half or a quarter of a pack.

You could use self-raising or plain flour and add baking powder. McDougall's was a popular brand and then ready-sifted Homepride came along. A pinch of salt was an important addition, even in sweet things. For everyday, we used white, granulated sugar. That's all you need for crumble, plus water for the pastry.

Crumble and pastry recipes are based on a ratio of half fat to flour.

Crumble Recipe

8 heaped tablespoons of plain or self-raising flour
Quarter pack of lard
Quarter pack of Stork margarine
4 rounded tablespoons of sugar (or to taste, I usually use half this amount nowadays).

Rubbed-In Method

The fat needs to be very cold.
Measure the flour into a large mixing bowl.
Chop the fat into small pieces and add to the flour.
Using the ends of your fingers and thumbs, start to combine the fat with the flour by rubbing them between your fingers and thumbs. You want to work quickly, with a light touch, so the fat doesn't melt. When the mixture resembles breadcrumbs, add the sugar. You can add other flavourings - I like ginger and lemon zest.

Here's a demonstration of the rubbed-in method.

To Make Your Crumble

Put 2lbs (900g) prepared seasonal fruit in a 3 pint (1.5l) pie dish, sprinkle on a little sugar if the fruit is a little tart, cover with the crumble mixture and bake in a pre-heated moderate oven (gas mark 4/350F/180C) for 35-40 minutes (check after 30 minutes). Serve with custard, evaporated milk, cream or ice cream. Divine.

To Make Pastry

After rubbing in the fat and flour, add a little cold water (there is no sugar in everyday pastry). The rough measurement is one dessertspoon (10ml) for each tablespoon of flour, but you want the least amount of water possible, otherwise the pastry will be hard and tough. Add five dessertspoons of cold water, and bring the mixture together until it forms a ball, add more water if necessary. Work quickly and lightly, without kneading the dough.

Turn out onto a floured board or work top and, with a floured rolling pin, roll lightly and quickly until the pastry is slightly larger than the size and shape of your pie dish. Gather the pastry over the rolling pin and lay it on top of the pie dish. With a knife, trim the excess pastry from the edge, then seal and crimp the edge. Make a slit in the centre with a knife to allow steam to escape and sprinkle some caster sugar over the pastry to finish.

Bake in a pre-heated moderate oven (gas mark 5/375F/190C) for about 25-30 minutes (check after 20 minutes).

A lovely video demonstrating how to shape your pastry and place it on your pie dish.

Personally, I like my pastry top quite thick on a fruit pie and I don't bother with a bottom layer. This recipe is for shortcrust pastry. To get a very light, short (crumbly) pastry, use enough fat, not too much water, and work quickly and lightly. The amount of fat and water will vary depending on the flour you use. Some flours need more or less, depending on the grain, how old the flour is and how much humidity is in the atmosphere - so you may need to experiment.

This final video gives some ideas for crimping pastry - I use a variation of the forked version.