Catherine Owen's new cook book ..

I will first give my method of making, which is the usual French way of making "feuilletage." Take one pound of butter, or half of it lard ; press all the water out by squeezing it in a cloth ; this is important, as the liquid in it would wet your paste ; take a third of the butter, or butter and lard, and rub it into Pastry, 23 one pound of fine flour ; add no salt if your butter is salted ; then take enough water (to which you may add the well-beaten white of an egg, but it is not absolutely necessary) to make the flour into a smooth, firm dough; it must not be too stiff, or it will be hard to roll out, or too soft, or it will never make good paste ; it should roll easily, yet not stick ; work it till it is yery smooth, then roll it out till it is half an inch thick ; now lay the whole of the butter in the center, fold one-third the paste over, then the other third ; it is now folded in three, with the butter completely hidden ; now turn the ends toward you, and roll it till it is half an inch thick, taking care, by rolling very evenly, that the butter is not pressed out at the other end ; now you have a piece of paste about two feet long, and not half that width ; flour it lightly, and fold over one third and under one third, which will almost bring it to a square again ; turn it round so that what was the side is now the end, and roll. Most likely now the butter will begin to break through, in which case fold it, after flouring lightly, in three, as before, and put it on a dish on the ice, covering it with a damp cloth. You may now either leave it for an hour or two, or till next day. Paste made the day before it is used is much better and easier to manage, and in winter it may be kept for four or five days in a cold place, using from it as required. When ready to use your paste finish the making by rolling it out, dredging a little flour, and doubling it in three as before, and roll it out thin ; do this until from first to last it has been so doubled and rolled seven times. Great cooks differ on one or two points in making pastry ; for instance, Soyer directs you to put the yolk of an egg instead of the white, and a squeeze of lemon 24 Culture and Cooking, juice into the flour^ and expressly forbids you to work it before adding the mass of butter, while Jules Gouffe says, "work it until smooth and shining." I cannot pretend to decide between these differing doctors, but I pursue the method I have given and always have light pastry. And now to the handling of it : It must only be touched by the lightest fingers, every cut must be made with a sharp knife, and done with one quick stroke so that the paste is not dragged at all ; in covering a pie dish or patty pan, you are commonly directed to mold the paste over it as thin as possible, which conveys the idea that the paste is to be pressed over and so made thin ; this would destroy the finest paste in the world ; roll it thin, say for small tartlets, less than a quarter of an inch thick, for a pie a trifle thicker, then lay the dish or tin to be covered on the paste, and cut out with a knife, dipped in liot water or flour, a piece a little larger than the mold, then line with the piece you have cut, touching it as little as possible ; press only enough to make the paste adhere to the bottom, bu