Cooking and castle-building

" Certainly. That is the body or flesh of a pie. The fruit is the heart, soul, and spirit. I wish to know how the crust and the fruit are compounded ; how dough and apple are metamorphosed into a perfect apple-pie." " To make pie-crust, one pound of flour, a quarter pound of lard, a quarter pound of butter, a glass of cold water, a cool pantry or room, and quick movements, are essential. Place half the flour in a little heap on the moulding-board. Cut the lard into, and through, it, until quite fine. Add cold water, and stir with the knife. When wet and quite soft, scrape from the board to one side. Sift from the other half of the flour upon the board, till well covered. Lay the dough on it. Roll it out, but be careful not to get it too thin. Spread half the butter over it, and then cover the butter with flour. Fold, and roll out. Put on the remaining butter, and cover witli flour. Fold, and roll quite thin. Sift flour lightly on it. Fold, or roll up, and lay it aside. Take a little more than a fourth of the whole for one crust. Flour the board and dough, and roll to the size required. Place upon the tin or dish, shaping to the same, and cut off around the edge with a sharp knife. Fill the pie with quarters ; or, if the apples are large, with eighths, of tart apples. Roll an upper-crust, and lay it over the apples. Trim it around the edges as before, but do not pinch the two crusts together. If you wish to ornament the crust, let the cuts or marks be upon the upper surface only. Do not cut through so as to make holes at which the steam can escape. Place the pie in a hot oven, so that the paste will bake quickly. When thoroughly baked, if the apples are not perfectly cooked, which can be easily ascertained by lifting the upper-crust at one side and peeping in, lessen the heat, or transfer to a cooler oven, until done. If necessary, you can protect the crust, with paper, from becoming too brown." "Don't you put water in to cook the apples?" interrupted Alice. "No. The apples are sufficiently juicy to cook themselves, if the steam and juice are kept confined in the pie, as they will be, if no holes are cut or pricked in the upper-crust. While the pie is baking, put in a cup or small stew-pan the sugar required for it, two or three ounces if the apples are tart, as they should be, a small piece of butter, and the juice of an orange, with a very little of the outside grated, if you like it. Melt all together ; and, when the pie comes from the oven, slip it from the tin or dish on which it was baked, to the warmed plate on which it is to be served. Lift off the upper-crust. Pour your seasoning over the apple, distributing it evenly ; replace the upper-crust, press it gently, and, in one hour the pic is at its best. A pie baked in this manner does not, however, lose its goodness