VEAL PIE

Take two pounds of veal, one haJf-pound of bacon, cut into small pieces, boil in a little water until nearly tender. Now roll the crust (sour milk crust is good) ; lay a deep pie dish on the crust, and cut the size of the dish ; put the crust all round the dish, but do not put any at the bottom ; place a teacup in the middle and place the meat in layers ; beat a raw egg up with a little flour in the gravy ; add pep- per, salt and a little catsup ; pour half of this over the meat, save the other to add after the pile is baked ; put the crust over the pie, wet the paste at the edge so that the gravy may not escape ; bake a good brown ; when the crust is done the pie is baked.

. PUFF PASTE, PIES AND TARTLETS.

Use the best of fresh lard for pastry, or the crust will be bitter,

tough, and anything but flaky. The best way to secure good lard is to

take the leaf and try out the lard, and then you are sure of having the

genuine article. Keep a board or marble slab purposely for pastry, and

PASTRY. 541

see that it is never used for any other purpose except to mold bread or pastry upon. A good way to avoid wasting flour each time you use your kneading board is to brush it carefully off the board into a small sieve ; sift out the flour, it will be good to use again.

An economical pie crust is made by allowing one cup of flour and a large spoonful of lard to each covered pie of ordinary size. Sift the flour and take out a handful for rolling out ; add a pinch of salt for each pie ; put your lard into the flour in lumps as large as an almond, but do not rub, as every lump will make it flaky; work in as much cold water as will make a dough just soft enough to roll easily ; handle as little as possible to form an oblong roll of dough, and cut into as many slices as you need tops and bottoms ; lay the cut side on the board and roll just large enough to cover your platter neatly ; roll top crust very thin and bake well in a quick oven, and you will surely have good pie crust, even in warm weather. For meat pies use less shortening and put in a little yeast powder ; roll top crust of meat pies half an inch thick, and line sides only of the pan.

The real puff paste for tarts or pies is made in this way : Before beginning operations, select the coolest possible place in which to work^ use a marble slab, if possible, when rolling out the paste for pies, and work quickly, handling as little as possible. To a pound of flour a pound of butter is generally supposed necessary, but a half a pound of shortening to a pound of flour is quite as good, and much more health- ful. Again, if considered necessary, the shortening may be half lard or good dripping, and the other half only butter, with half teaspoonful of salt added. Mix half the butter (or other shortening), with the flour as finely as possible, till it is no coarser than oatmeal ; wet it up with iced water until about the consistency of the butter to be used ; then roll out smooth, spread with some of the remaining butter, sprinkle with flour and fold three times and set away on ice, or if in winter, in a cold but not freezing place, for fifteen minutes. Repeat this process three times, then line a pie-pan with a lower crust, brown it lightly in the oven before putting in the fruit or custard, then add the top crust and bake in a moderately quick oven.

All crust will be more flaky if laid on ice a short time before using. Lard for pastry may be used as hard as it can be cut with a knife, and it will be better than if left stand to warm. It needs only to be cut through the flour, not rubbed.

Pie crust without lard can be made by taking rich buttermilk, soda, and a little salt, and mixing just as soft as it can be mixed and hold together ; have plenty of flour on the molding board and rolling-pin ; then make and bake as other pies, or rather in a slow oven, and when the pie is taken from, the oven do not cover it up. In this way a dyspep- tic can indulge in the luxury of a pie.

542 PASTRY.

Pot-pie crusts with baking powder are made in this wise : Take one quart of flour, three teaspoonfuls of baking powder, a piece of butter as large as a hen's &gg, well rubbed in the flour ; mix just hard enough to handle ; use either sweet milk or water to mix with ; then, twenty minutes before you take up your dinner, pull your dough in pieces about as large as two hen's eggs and put in your kettle ; cover and keep boiling briskly. Use buttermilk or sour milk for pot-pie crust when it can be procured. These are the proper proportions : One quart of flour, a little piece of butter rubbed in the flour, salt and a tea- spoonful of saleratus or soda dissolved in enough sour milk to make a dough just hard enough to handle ; then, as in the other kind, pull in pieces and put in your pie. Allow twenty minutes to cook. Do not raise the cover of your kettle more than once while it is cooking. When making the crust for a pot-pie there is danger, as every cook knows, of the crust falling when it is cooked in the kettle with the meat or chicken. If instead of doing this you put the crust on a plate and steam it for three-quarters of an hour, it will not be heavy. Be sure to have plenty of water in the kettle, so that you will not have to take the steamer off in order to put more in. Make the crust just as you do baking powder biscuit. When the meat is cooked and the gravy made, drop the crust into the gravy and leave it there a minute or two.

In warm weather, if the crust can not be used immediately after making, put in the ice-box until ready to use, and roll always with a well-floured rolling-pin. To prevent the juice from soaking into the under-crust, beat an &gg well and with a soft cloth rub the crust before filling the pies. In the upper crust make air-holes, or the crust will break. These are best made with the point of the spoon or with a pastry-cutter, and may be drawn a little apart when placed over the pie. Use tin pie-plates, as the crust does not bake well in earthen ones, and do not fill with fruit until ready to place in the oven. When using juicy fruit, such as currants, gooseberries, sprinkle a little corn starch and sugar over the fruit after it is in the pie, and immediately put on the top crust and bake. Just before putting on the upper crust wet the rim of the lower, with water, and press the two crusts firmly together ; this will prevent the pie bursting. Bake pies in a moderate oven, having the most heat at the bottom, or the lower crust will be clammy and raw. Remove fruit pies immediately from the tins, or the crust will become wet and ruin the pie.

A superior paste for mince pies or tarts is made by rubbing into a quart of the best flour one-third of a pound of sweet lard. Chop it in with a broad knife ; wet up with ice-water ; roll out very thin and cover with dabs of butter, also of the best ; fold into atight roll ; flatten with a few strokes of the rolling-pin, and roll out into a sheet as thin as the first ; baste again with the butter ; roll up and

PIES AND TARTLETS. 643

out into a third sheet hardly thicker than drawing paper ; a third time dot with butter and fold up closely, Having used as much butter for this purpose as you have lard, set aside your roll for an hour on ice, or in a very cold place ; then roll out, line your pie-plates with the paste, fill with mince meat, put strips across them in squares or triangles, and bake in a steady but not dull heat.

Sweetened tart paste is very nice for tartlets, and is much used for the delicate tarts, as lemon or orange. For these, use one pound each of loaf sugar, flour and butter ; mix thoroughly, then beat well with the rolling-pin (without rolling), for half an hour, folding it up and beating it out again ; then roll out the pieces in any shape you wish for the tarts. In rolling the crust use the rolling-pin as lightly as possible, and take care that the pressure is even. For fruit tarts the crust is baked with the fruit in them, but for jelly the crusts are baked first and then filled with the jelly.