Very excellent pastry may be made with lard or dripping, instead of butter, or with a mixture of lard and dripping. Good beef-fat, or suet melted gently down, and poured off before it has had time to burn, is very nearly as good as anything that can be used for making pastry for everyday use. Very palatable pies may be made from the dripping from roast beef, veal, pork - if not impregnated with the flavour of sage-and-onion - or mutton, though the last-named is thought by some to impart a disagreeable flavour of tallow to pastry. The quantity of fat used, of course, will vary according to the richness required, but half a pound of fat to one pound of flour will make a very fair paste suitable for everyday purposes; and it may be remembered that a rich crust is neither so digestible nor so suitable for many dishes as a substantial light one, and that the lightness of pastry depends quite as much upon a light, quick, cool hand as on a large amount of butter or lard. The addition of a beaten egg or a little lemon-juice to the water, or a teaspoonful of baking-powder to the flour, will make the paste lighter. It should be remembered, however, that though baking-powder is excellent for common pastry that is to be used immediately, pies are more likely to get dry quickly when it is used.

Take a pound of flour, and see that it is dry and free from lumps; for this purpose it is best sifted.

Next, if butter is used, squeeze it in a cloth to get rid of any moisture. Mix the paste in as cool a place as possible. For ordinary pies, whether fruit or meat, use half a pound of butter - or butter and lard mixed - or dripping - to one pound of flour. Of course, the more butter, the richer the paste.

Avoid mixing paste in a hot kitchen. A marble slab makes an admirable paste-board. Mix the half pound of butter, or whatever else is used, into the flour gently and thoroughly, adding a pinch of salt to the flour. If baking-powder is used, add that to the flour previously.

Then moisten with water, or water and lemon-juice, half a lemon being sufficient for one pound of flour. Roll the whole out three or four times, first flouring the paste-board and roller.

Roll out to the thickness wanted. This is generally a quarter of an inch thick for meat pies, rather less for fruit pies.

A tablespoonful of powdered sugar added to the flour makes the paste into a nice short crust for fruit pies.

Paste for meat pies can be glazed. (See Glaze.) For making ordinary paste butter is best; next, butter and lard, mixed; next, lard; last, dripping. Six ounces of dripping is sufficient for one pound of flour.