extremely trifling.

To ensure lightness, paste should be set in the oven directly it is
made.

Puff paste requires a brisk oven.

Butter should be added to the paste in small pieces.

The more times the paste is folded and rolled, if done with a light
hand and the butter added with skill, the richer and lighter it will
prove. It is no longer customary to line the dish for pies and fruit
tarts.

* * * * *

PLAIN PUFF PASTE.

Mix a pound of flour into a stiff paste with a little water, first
having rubbed into it about two ounces of butter, then roll it out;
add by degrees the remainder of the butter (there should be altogether
half a pound of butter), fold the paste and roll about two or three
times.

* * * * *

VERY RICH PUFF PASTE.

Mix in the same manner equal quantities of butter and flour, taking
care to have the flour dried for a short time before the fire; it may
be folded and rolled five or six times. This paste is well suited to
vol-au-vents and tartlets; an egg well beaten and mixed with the paste
is sometimes added.

* * * * *

PLAIN SHORT CRUST.

Put half a pound of fresh butter to a pound of flour, add the yolks of
two eggs and a little powdered sugar, mix into a paste with water, and
roll out once.

* * * * *

EGG PASTE, CALLED IN MODERN COOKERY NOUILLES.

This is formed by making a paste of flour and beaten eggs, without
either butter or water; it must be rolled out extremely thin and left
to dry; it may then be cut into narrow strips or stamped with paste
cutters. It is more fashionable in soups than vermicelli.

* * * * *

BEEF DRIPPING PASTE.

Mix half a pound of clarified dripping into one pound of flour; work
it into a paste with water, and roll out twice. This is a good paste
for a common meat pie.

* * * * *

GLAZE FOR PASTRY.

When the pastry is nearly baked, brush it over with white of egg,
cover it thickly with sifted sugar, and brown it in the oven, or it
may be browned with a salamander.

For savory pies beat the yolk of an egg, dip a paste-brush into it,
and lay it on the crust before baking.

* * * * *

FRUIT TARTS OR PIES.

A fruit tart is so common a sweet that it is scarcely necessary to
give any directions concerning it. Acid fruits are