The Rural cook book

Pie Crust. — For one pie use one cupful sifted flour, one-half cup of shortening, pinch of salt. It will be much flakier if chopped together with a knife, instead of rubbing in the hands. Stir in enough cold water to mix it so it may be rolled out. Handle as little as possible, and keep very cold. It is improved by making a day before using, and storing in the icebox or other cold place. Cream Pie Crust.—If one can use cream, delicious crust may be made. Add baking powder and salt to the flour and mix still with cream that is not too heavy. The crust is tender, browns quickly and has a very sweet, agreeable flavor. Oil Pie Crust. — For this either olive or refined cotton-seed oil may be used. For one pie take one cup flour, add pinch of salt, mix and add two tablespoonfuls oil; rub well together and add three tablespoonfuls cold water. Handle dough as little as possible and roll thin. Puff Paste.— Use equal weights of flour and butter; by measure, one pint of flour and one cup of butter. Wash the butter in cold water until all the salt is out; the hands should first be washed in hot, then cold water, to prevent the butler from sticking. When washed until smooth and waxy divide butter into four parts, pat until tbin, wrap in a napkin and place upon ice. Mix a little salt with the flour, mix in about one-balf clip of ice water, stirring it in with a knife, and cut until it can be taken up dean from the bowl. Put on a well-floured board, roll until one-half inch thick. Roll one portion of the butter tbin, fold it up inside the paste, pat and roll out again. Repeat this process with the rest of the butter. When putting in the butter, fold the sides of the paste over it toward the middle, then the ends over, and double; then roll. This process should continue until no streaks of fat are shown. Whenever the butter becomes soft, it should be chilled, and when finished the paste should be wrapped in a napkin, and kept in the refrigerator. This is the paste used for patty cases, and similar delicate pastry. It requires a "knack" is well as a recipe to get good results. Crust for Raised Pies. — This is the crust used by English housekeepers for pork and other meat pies, in which the crust is patted and shaped into 3 deep dish shape, which is filled with meat and then covered with a top crust. The crust is hard and stiff when cold, but soften when warm. Put one. cupful of water in a saucepan, add one pound of lard, put on stove to melt, and allow it to come to boiling point, stirring well ; sift about three pounds of flour into a bowl, make a hole in the middle, and stir in the hot liquid, mixing with a spoon until it is cool enough to knead with the hands. It may require the addition of more flour, as it should be very stiff. To make a pork pie, this crust should be molded with the hands into a dish shape four or five inches deep; an oval four or five by six inches is a convenient size. Good, tender, fresh roasting pork is cut into half-inch pieces, and well seasoned; the pie is filled and covered, after a small amount of water is sprinkled over, and then the pie is baked for about V/i hour, in a steady oven. It is always served cold Game birds or pigeons make excellent raised pie also. To give a shining yellow appearance to the pastry, brush it over with the yolk of an egg, beaten up with two tablespoonfuls of milk, about 10 minutes before it is taken out of the oven.