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The patty shell is a handy bowl made from puff pastry, puff pastry, or sometimes dough-based breads, like the typical waffle bowl. These shells can vary in size and are used for a variety of main dishes, canapes, and desserts. You can fill the burger with caramelized fruit, ice cream, sautéed vegetables or whatever you like.
You can buy the baked hamburger shell form at bakeries, and you can often get dough, usually available in slices that you form yourself, or unbaked, preformed hamburger shells in the refrigerator section of your supermarket. It’s a bit more difficult to find the right kind of waffle maker and you may need to learn how to make it yourself. You can also use slightly thicker puff pastry to create shells from scratch.
You may find some variation in the size of the different types of empanada. You will have to choose the size based on the type of portion you want to serve. Waffle bowl covers tend to be larger. Most other shapes are cup-shaped, perfect for individual servings. One of the easiest ways to make patties so they hold their shape while baking is to use muffin tins to create them. Since you’ll typically be making several at once, one bun pan can provide 8-12 burger skins to work with.
If you are shaping the shells by hand, it is a good idea to use very cold dough, as working the dough to create the shell will not work too hard and the shell will retain its shape. Alternatively, you can grill a hamburger shell in a bowl or any heatproof bowl or cup of your choice. Just as the burger shell is a way to serve, it’s also something to eat, so look for a light puff pastry that tastes delicious and complements your fillings.
A number of recipes using hamburger skins walk you through forming and baking the skins and then adding seafood. Shrimp and creamed crab are popular choices. If you are not a big fan of seafood, chicken salad can be beautifully presented in this type of shell. In general, the main difference between a hamburger crust and other types of pies or small pie crusts is that the filling is not baked inside the crust. The shells are baked and cooled, then whatever you want to fill is added. Keep in mind that chilling the shells can be very important if you are stuffing the burger shell with any type of spoilable food. For example, you don’t want to put a mayonnaise-based chicken salad on a hot burger, as this can quickly spoil the dish.