By Stephane Reynaud
I have several cookbooks by Stephane Reynaud and Pies and Tarts is easily my favourite. While Pork & Sons covers a subject that is dear to my heart (or stomach, to be more anatomically accurate), Pies and Tarts appeals to me because of my former career as a pastry chef.
There are two equally important components in making excellent pies and tarts: good pastry and good fillings. Reynaud gives recipes for three doughs - pâte brisée, pâte sablée and pâte feuilletée - which can be used for almost all the pies and tarts in the book (the exception being those that call for filo or brik pastry). Of the three doughs, pâte feuilletée is the most challenging (although it's not nearly as difficult as some people think). While Reynaud does provide lots of photos showing how the dough is made, it would have been better if he had expanded on the instructions, including the importance of making the butter layer as pliable as the dough it's layered with.
Apart from that, the rest of the book is detailed. The chapters are divided into types of pie - vegetable and mushroom; poultry and rabbit; meat; fish and seafood; cheese; and the sweet variety - with appetising photos of each recipe. I've marked several to try in the near future: ham pithivier; friand (made with puff pastry, black olives, anchovies, sun-dried tomatoes, sausage meat and sheep's milk cheese); sweetbread pie; Cornish pasty (although his presentation is as a terrine, rather than the traditional turnover); sud-ouest-style duck pie; Comtoise pie; and apricot pie.