Cassell's dictionary of cookery

The time required for baking depends, of course, upon the size of the cake. Its appearance will soon show when it is done enough. The materials here given, if baked in one cake, would require about half an hour. Probable cost, 2s. Sufficient for half a dozen persons. - Paste for Common Pies.— Very excellent pastry may be made with lard or dripping, instead of butter, or with a mixture of lard and dripping. Good beef fat, or suet melted gently down, and poured off before it has had time to bum, is very nearly as good as anything that can be used for making pastry for everyday use. Very palatable pies may be made from the dripping from roast beef, veal, pork, or mutton, though the last named PAS <514 ) PAS is though by some to impart a disagreeable flavour of tallow to pastry. The quantity of fat used must, of course, be regulated by the expense, and it may be remembered that a rich crust is neither so digestible nor so suitable for many dishes as a substantial hght one, and that the lightness of pastry depends quite as much upon a light, quick, cool hand as on a large amount of butter or lard. The addition of a beaten egg or a little lemon -juice to the water, or a tea-spoonful of baking-powder to the flour, will make the paste lighter. It should be remembered, however, that though bakingpowder is excellent for common pastry that is to be used immediately, pies are more likely to get dry quickly when it is used. Two recipes are here given for good plain pastry, and they may be varied according to the taste and resources of the cook. Paste for Meat or Fruit Pies, &g. — Mix the eighth part of a peck of flour with some cream and raw eggs. Add half a pound of butter broken in pieces, which must not be too small, and roll the paste lightly. To make paste for custards, mix the flour with boiling water and butter, sugar being added, if necessary. If this is done, it wiU be found to increase the stiffness of the paste. Paste for Meat or Savoury Pies.— Sift two pounds of flne flour to one and a half of good salt butter, break it into small pieces, and wash it weU in cold water; rub gently together the butter and flour, and mix it up with the yolks of throe eggs, beat together with a spoon, and nearly a pint of spring water ; roll it out, and double it in folds three times, and it is ready. Paste for Raised Pies.— In making raised pies the first consideration is whether the pastry is intended to be eaten or not. If it is intended merely to form a mould in which to hold the meat, it may be made firm and compact without very much difliculty, and may be beaten with the rolling-pin or kneaded with the knuckles to make it stiff and hard. If it is intended to be eaten, greater care will be necessary. It must be remembered that small pies are much easier to make than large ones, and the very easiest and best way for inexperienced persons to make them is to use one of the tin moulds manufactured for the purpose, which opens at the sides. The French pastry named Pate Brisee, the recipe for which is given {see Crust, Pate Bi-isee), makes a good crust for small raised pies. AVhen the pastry is not to be eaten, dissolve three or four ounces of lard in half a pint of boiling water, and stir in as much flour as will make a stiff smooth paste. A little more than a pound of flour will be required.