Having removed the skirt and stringy fibres from a pound of beef
suet, chop it as fine as possible. Sift two quarts of flour into a
deep pan, and rub into it one half of the suet. Make, it into a
round lump of dough, with cold water, and then knead it a little.
Lay the dough on your paste-board, roll it out very thin, and
cover it with the remaining half of the suet. Flour it, roll it
out thin again, and then roll it into a scroll. Cut it into as
many pieces as you want sheets of paste, and roll them out half an
inch thick.
Suet paste should always be boiled. It is good for plain puddings
that are made of apples, gooseberries, blackberries or other
fruit; and for dumplings. If you use it for pot-pie, roll it the
last time rather thicker than if wanted for any other purpose. If
properly made, it will be light and flaky, and the suet
imperceptible. If the suet is minced very fine, and thoroughly
incorporated with the flour, not the slightest lump will appear
when the paste comes to table.
The suet must not be melted before it is used; but merely minced
as fine as possible and mixed cold with the flour.
If for dumplings to eat with boiled mutton, the dough must be
rolled out thick, and cut out of the size you want them, with a
tin, or with the edge of a cup or tumbler.