Puff-Paste

One pound of butter, one pound of flour. Wash your butter in cold water to extract the salt; work it well with a broad wooden spoon in order to get out all the water. Lay it between clean napkins, put it in a tin pan or plate, set it on the ice to get hard, but do not let it freeze. Sift your flour in a pan, cut the butter in four equal parts, cut one fourth in very small pieces in the flour, but do not touch it, as the warmth of your hands will make the paste heavy. Add to the flour as much cold water as will make it a stiff dough. Turn it out on your pie-board, roll it gently into sheets, cut one third of the remainder of the butter into small pieces and lay over it, sprinkle on a very little flour, fold it over, roll it out again, cut one half of the butter which is left in small pieces and lay on, put on a little flour, and fold it as before, roll it out again, and put on the remainder of the butter. It should now be set on the ice, but should not come in contact with it. When it is perfectly cold, roll it out into a sheet thinner in the centre than at the edges of your pie. Cut it with a very sharp knife the size you wish it. Fill with whatever you choose, and bake in a tolerably quick oven.

Pastry

The flour for pastry should be of the whitest and finest quality. It should be mixed with a broad knife, as the moisture and warmth of the hand makes it heavy. The butter should be of the best quality, as if it is a little rancid it will taste. To make puff-paste, it should have all the salt washed out of it. Iron, or block-tin plates are the best for baking pastry. Always use cold water (in summer iced water) to mix pastry, and if it cannot be baked immediately set it away in a cool place.

Rhubarb Pie, Or Tart

Take the stalks from the leaves, and peel off the thin skin; cut them into pieces about an inch long, and as you do so sprinkle a little fine sugar into the basin. For a quart basin heaped, take one pound of common lump sugar; put the rhubarb into it, with a tablespoonful of water, and as it simmers shake the pan often over the fire. It will turn yellow at first, but keep it very gently doing until it greens, and then take it off. When cold, lay it in the tart dish, with only as much syrup as will make it very moist. Put a light crust over it, and when that is baked the tart will be done enough. Quarter the crust, and fill the dish with custard or cream. Many persons think the flavor of the rhubarb injured by taking off the peel.

Peach Pot Pie

Line the sides of a deep pot with a paste made in the proportion of half a pound of butter to one pound of flour. Then pare and slice some peaches, sugar them to your taste, and fill up the pot and cover the top with the paste, leaving an opening in the middle of the crust to permit the steam to escape while the pie is baking. Bake it in a moderately hot oven, and when cold serve it with cream.