hot with a tablespoonful of butter
in it, also hot, but not so hot as for frying. Pour the batter (which
should be of the consistency of sponge cake batter) into the pan, cover
it with a lid or tin plate, and set it back of the stove if the fire is
hot--if very slow it may be forward; when well risen and near done, put
it in the oven, or if the oven is cold you may turn it gently, not to
deaden it. Serve when done (try with a twig), the under side uppermost;
it should be of a fine golden brown and look like an omelet. This
soufflee bread is equally good _baked_ in a tin in which is rather more
butter than enough to grease it; the oven must be _very hot indeed_.
Cover it for the few minutes with a tin plate or lid, to prevent it
scorching before it has risen; when it has puffed up remove the lid, and
allow it to brown, ten to fifteen minutes should bake it; turn it out as
you would sponge cake--very carefully, not to deaden it. To succeed with
bread you must use the very best flour.

CHAPTER III.

PASTRY.

TO MAKE good puff paste is a thing many ladies are anxious to do, and in
which they generally fail, and this not so much because they do not make
it properly, as because they handle it badly. A lady who was very
anxious to excel in pastry once asked me to allow her to watch me make
paste. I did so, and explained that there was more in the manner of
using than in the making up. I then gave her a piece of my paste when
completed, and asked her to cover some patty pans while I covered
others, cautioning her as to the way she must cover them; yet, when
those covered by her came out of the oven they had not risen at all,
they were like rich short paste; while my own, made from the same paste,
were toppling over with lightness. I had, without saying anything,
pressed my thumb slightly on one spot of one of mine; in that spot the
paste had not risen at all, and I think this practical demonstration of
what I had tried to explain was more useful than an hour's talk would
have been.

I will first give my method of making, which is the usual French way of
making "_feuilletonage_." 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 one pound of _fine_ flour; add no salt
if your butter is salted; then take enough water (to which you may add
the well-