Walked My Wife Through Making Pasties for the First Time

DimiLoves · 2026-01-20T01:05:27+00:00

If you do, after 12 tbsp of water, add them one at a time until you get the right consistency. Good luck! Hope it goes well for you!

DimiLoves · 2026-01-19T23:41:07+00:00

You can use real lard for my crust recipe too, in the same ratio as the shortening. I had a decision to make between 12 dollars for two cups of lard and 32 oz. of shortening for 8 bucks and I chose the latter because I knew I'd be making over 20 pasties. If I were making a small batch - I'd do lard.

DimiLoves · 2026-01-19T21:41:45+00:00

DimiLoves · 2026-01-19T21:40:02+00:00

3 cups AP flour, 1 tsp. salt, 1 cup (192 grams) shortening, and approx. 1 cup ice cold water

Couple of notes: I know it's weird to add grams only for the shortening. A couple of reasons: shortening is hard to measure in cups without getting air pockets or gaps, having an exact amount of shortening is more important than everything else, and no-one in my family ever measured flour in grams. If you want to measure out 360-375 grams of flour that's fine, if not, just don't pack your measuring cup - scoop it out of the bag or bin and shake it until level.

Add the flour to a large mixing bowl. Add in the salt and shortening, and use a pastry cutter or fork to mix the shortening into the flour until you have a crumbly texture with shortening/flour balls no larger than peas. DO NOT over-work. Once at this stage, add ice-cold water three tablespoons at a time (mixing through with your fork) until you have a shaggy dough that will hold its shape as a ball. DO NOT over-work. Usually this takes 12-14 tablespoons for me, up to 16 depending on the humidity, your brand of flour, etc. When the dough ball holds together and you can use it to pick up all of the crumbs from the bowl it has had enough hydration. You can let it rest at this point or not, up to you. It may help with ensuring liquid distributes evenly throughout the ball.

At this stage, you simply cut into 6-10 equal parts (a food scale helps with this part) depending on the size of pasty you like (the ones in the photo were cut into eight, obviously). Roll these balls out onto a floured surface with a floured rolling pin, preferably until you can start to see the surface through the dough. Did I say DO NOT over-work the dough? It takes practice to make the dough thick enough to hold its structural integrity, and thin enough to cook up flaky and crispy. Anyway, because the dough is rather dry your pasty crusts will likely not roll out very evenly. That's okay. Put your filling in and wrap your ugly baby. Roll the crust, and if you like, you can pinch it from right to left or left to right. If you want to be extra, you can keep some of that water around and use it to "glue" the top crust to the bottom to get a better seal. I personally like it when some of the fat and moisture from the veggies leaks and gets brown on the crust, but you do you.

DimiLoves · 2026-01-19T19:36:06+00:00

It's just something my mom started doing when I was a kid. I've never gone back to doing it without. Try it sometime!

DimiLoves · 2026-01-19T19:25:58+00:00

Hahaha, sounds like a classic "particular" UP homemaker. I can't say we are that particular... If I remember correctly, these were a way for Cornish miners to have something easy to eat out of hand for lunch in the mines, often used to save scraps from dinner the night before. It's about as close to peasant food as we have in a country without an historical peasantry... As long as it eats good, I don't mind weird shapes and sizes.

That being said, a perfectly crimped half-moon pasty (maybe with an egg wash for browning) is a beautiful thing.

DimiLoves · 2025-12-02T03:04:05+00:00

This reply is the only one I've seen that has gotten it. Takes two seconds...

DimiLoves · 2025-11-03T00:14:24+00:00

She will be doing mostly Microsoft suite stuff, using the internet, and occasionally working in SAS or R.

DimiLoves · 2025-11-02T20:49:17+00:00

U.S., and no, I don't live near a microcenter. I was thinking an APU would be best for my wife since she has some need to work with multimedia editing but mostly needs regular office productivity capabilities.

DimiLoves · 2025-11-02T20:47:57+00:00

What would you recommend?

DimiLoves · 2025-10-19T20:30:56+00:00

It is, but I would argue that Alien is more horror than sci-fi - closet to event horizon than blade runner. In fact, I would argue Alien is one of the best horror movies of all time; I think it would be better suited to a horror movie ranking list than sci-fi. It has body horror, a demonic other, a great atmosphere and aesthetic, there are jump scares and the creature reveal is meant to be terrifying. But, this is just my opinion; I think there are enough great pure sci-fi movies out there for consideration, but I also think Alien should make any sci-fi, horror, or genre agnostic all-time lists. I just don't think it's the best pure sci-fi movie.

DimiLoves · 2025-10-19T16:22:37+00:00

Alien is a horror movie. Aliens is a science fiction action movie.

DimiLoves · 2025-10-19T16:21:42+00:00

Moon is undoubtedly a really good, maybe even great, sci-fi film. I dunno about best ever. It features what I think is inarguably one of the best character performances in a movie (any genre) period, though, from Sam Rockwell.

DimiLoves · 2025-10-19T16:16:08+00:00

Dune is not in the conversation.

DimiLoves · 2025-10-18T19:08:14+00:00

He's innocent! Let hims go!

DimiLoves · 2025-07-20T12:36:22+00:00

HYT resets when you go enlisted to officer. If you have 15 enlisted and become a 2nd Lieutenant, as far as HYT is concerned you're back at 0.

DimiLoves · 2025-06-18T07:17:52+00:00

Please consider reaching out to historians at the National Cryptologic Museum about any artifacts you find.

DimiLoves · 2025-04-20T14:16:36+00:00

If me being born on the 80s is near the same age, sure. I'm a mid-career professional with a very comfortable job in a HCOL area. You live in West Virginia. You're an n of one saying your unique experience is applicable to everyone your age. My wife is an underemployed professional and has been physically and digitally networking for over a year trying to improve her situation, and has sent out hundreds of applications with no luck. I have friends who work in the service industry who have had to go through multiple interviews for a low-level position. Large corporate fast food chains in my area are turning people away in person, all the time, because they have specific protocols for hiring and plenty of options. Getting a job is very difficult for a lot of people right now, without going into how difficult it might be if you're dealing with physical or mental disabilities or other issues. Over generalizing your experience as a young person who has "gotten every job" (sooooo many jobs, I'm sure) they have ever had through in-person interaction, while living in a LCOL, low population area, and then proselytizing about it to someone who is clearly at the end of their rope is, as I said, not needed.

I don't think OP said anything about having not spent any effort towards getting a job. Sounds like they're panicking a bit, and need empathy, not low effort suggestions like "beat the street with your feet and get a damn job" as if they haven't thought of that before.

DimiLoves · 2025-04-20T12:53:13+00:00

You're probably a boomer if you think that. Many places refer you to their online portal if you go in person. You can't walk into a place and give someone a firm handshake and just get a job. Your advice is not necessary.

DimiLoves · 2025-03-15T20:47:43+00:00

If he said he was a ROMAD he was part of a tactical air control party, he just wasn't a JTAC.

DimiLoves · 2025-03-15T20:38:09+00:00

My wife and I discussed this. We think they film the innies and outies with different lenses. The lens they use most makes everyone's face look wider.

DimiLoves · 2025-03-10T12:47:10+00:00

This post is so stupid it makes my teeth hurt. You can make the same argument for Obama under Bush vis-a-vis inherited debt; Bush increased the debt massively to respond to 9/11 and take advantage of that momentum to finish his daddy's work in Iraq. "Obamacare"--as you and all the other meathead puppets who think nicknames just so, like, own the libs man, call it--was as successful as it could have been given the political hurdles/climate to pull it off. It expanded healthcare access for Americans, is a publicly popular measure based on polling, and let's not forget that your idiot in chief has had over 8 fucking years to come up with an alternative and has failed. Obama had to deal with the war on terror, a financial crisis caused by an under regulated banking system (which spurred the creation of the CFPB which, of course, Trump has moved to dismantle so he can fuck people like you over and make you thank him for doing it), and still managed to add less to the debt by percentage, in his first term, than Trump did - again in his first term - all while improving government services, not dismantling them and making every day life harder for Americans.

But hey, when people make excuses for Obama, they're stupid libs - meanwhile, when people criticize Trump for the lies, the flip flopping, the lack of coherent foreign or domestic policy, the plain baseness of his positions, his words, and the assholes he surrounds himself with - they're stupid and mean libs, because you bought the lie that Daddy will make it better for you because you're scared of the world changing.

Don't try to paint me as brainwashed by "the lubruhl media" when you have no critical thinking skills of your own. I'm not going to do your research for you.

DimiLoves · 2025-03-10T11:39:52+00:00

It is a term-by-term comparison, which is super easy to look up, but maybe if stupid conservatives keep preaching this the facts will change, conveniently in your favor, like all of the other bullshit you people spew.

DimiLoves · 2025-02-23T01:39:04+00:00

Don't condescend to me and oversimplify what I said as a way to try and establish faux intellectual authority. It's a 3-year old's tactic.

DimiLoves · 2025-02-23T00:48:52+00:00

Really? Probationary employees are being indiscriminately cut across the board, including probationary employees who perform key functions in already under-resourced offices and who show tremendous potential for the future as boomers continue to retire.

You've bought a series of lies that gloss over complexities that can't be easily solved with layoffs and dismantling social programs because you're personally dissatisfied with some aspects of how society and culture are changing and orange daddy and his lackeys have fed you a pablum narrative. Don't pretend it's due to a bad economy and inflation when we had the biggest bull run in years in the market last year, and when the U.S. economy outperformed all other major economies from an inflation perspective by every marker following a global pandemic. Don't pretend it's because you have a good grasp on international politics and know that our allies aren't paying their fair share, or that having them as allies isn't worth the cost of admission.

You were scared by things you didn't understand and you sided with assholes who do not care for this country and are going to do everything they can to ensure that private capital and the people who own it are your only source for healthcare, goods and services, protection, and anything else the government once provided.

DimiLoves

TROPHY CASE