Salmon kulibyak in a baked pastry case

Blend the flour, chilled butter and chilled shortening with the fingertips, squeezing the fats into the flour until it resembles coarse cornmeal.

Dissolve the salt in the water and add the water rapidly, to a dough that is damp but pliable.

Gather the dough into a ball, do a final blending of fats and flour with the heel of the hand, press into a circle, bag and chill one to two hours.

Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a saucepan and saute the minced onion 5 minutes without browning.

Add the rinsed rice and cook slowly a few minutes until milky.

Add the chicken stock, bring to a boil, stir once only, cover and hold at a moderately fast simmer 18 minutes.

Fluff the rice with a fork and season with salt and pepper; set aside.

Wash and thoroughly dry the mushrooms, then dice them.

Skin the salmon: nick the flesh, slide the knife under the skin and pull the skin while slicing underneath.

In a skillet melt 2 tablespoons of butter and cook the shallot and the mushrooms.

Add the vermouth and cognac, bring to a boil and hold a few minutes until the alcohol evaporates.

Add the salmon and break it up in the pan as it cooks.

Stir in the parsley and the oregano, salt well, and turn off the heat.

Butter the outside of an upside down 13 by 4 inch loaf pan as the case mould.

Take two thirds of the chilled dough, let it warm at room temperature a little so it stops cracking, and drape it over the upturned pan.

Trim the dough two inches down each side with a ravioli cutter and tidy the corners.

Blind bake the case on the mould at 425F for six to eight minutes, with a tray on the oven floor.

Unmould the case; the sides will start to flop. Patch any breaks with leftover dough, using a little water and butter as glue.

Return the case to the oven about eight more minutes, covering the already baked part with foil if it browns too much.

With the remaining dough make a mock puff pastry: roll into a rectangle, spread half with a tablespoon of butter, fold over, flatten, add one more tablespoon of butter, fold again, wrap in wax paper and chill.

For the cream sauce cook 2 tablespoons of butter with 2 tablespoons of flour about two minutes, then drizzle in half a cup of hot whole milk, then the remaining one and a half cups.

Season the sauce with salt and white pepper, and add any juices pressed out of the salmon filling through a sieve.

Pour the sauce out of the saucepan into another container so it cools.

Butter a large baking dish and stand the case in it.

Layer the case: rice, then the mushroom and salmon, then sauce, then more rice, then the rest of the salmon and mushrooms, then the last of the sauce, without pushing against the walls.

Roll the chilled dough into a rectangle one and a half inches longer than each side of the case.

Paint the sides of the case with an egg wash of one egg and one teaspoon of water, lay on the lid, press it closely against the case to seal, trim the overlap with scissors and glue and glaze the top with more egg wash.

Decorate with cutouts from the remaining dough, glaze, cross-hatch the top, and set two piping bag nozzles in as chimneys for steam.

Bake 45 to 60 minutes at 425F on the middle rack.

For the serving sauce cook two and a half tablespoons of flour with 2 tablespoons of butter, add the milk a little at a time, then off the heat add salt, white pepper, lemon juice to taste and a little heavy cream.

Remove the chimneys and transfer the case to a large platter to serve.