125.--Butter for Puff Paste.
The butter must be perfectly sweet, and before it is used worked on a
marble slab to make it smooth. Salt butter from cows fed on poor land
makes the best puff paste, but it must first be washed in two or three
waters. For every kind of cakes the butter cannot be too rich.
126.--Puff Paste.
3 lbs. of butter and 3 lbs. of flour. The butter must be tough: if
salt, wash it in two waters the night before using it. Take half of it
and rub into the flour, and with pure water make into a paste the same
stiffness as the butter. Roll it on a marble slab half an inch thick,
spot it with small pieces of butter, dust it with flour; then double it
up again, spot it as before, and roll it out again, spot it the third
time, roll out again twice, and put in a cool place for half an hour
with a cloth over it, when it will be fit for use.
NOTE.--Common puff paste for large pies may be made this way by using 1
lb. of butter and 2 lbs. of flour.
127. _Another Way_.--2 lbs. 8 ozs. of butter, and 3 lbs. 8 ozs. of
flour. Mix the flour with water to the same stiffness as the butter,
then roll out the paste, spot it with the butter. Roll it out three
times, and dust it with flour as before. This paste is worse for lying,
and should therefore be baked as soon as possible.
By using lard of a good tough quality, and mixing it as above, with the
addition of a little salt, a good puff paste can be made suitable for
wholesale purposes.
128.--Crisp Tart Paste.
1 lb. of butter, and 2 lbs. of flour. Rub the butter and flour very
finely together, then mix it, with water, into a paste of the stiffness
of the butter. This is a choice paste for tarts made of fresh fruit.
129.--Sweet Tart Paste.
6 ozs. of butter, 2 ozs. of sugar, 1 lb. of flour. Beat to a froth the
whites of two eggs, rub the butter and flour very finely together, make
the paste of the proper stiffness with whites of egg and a little water.
130.--Paste for a Baked Custard.
8 oz. of butter and 1 lb. of flour. Boil the butter in a small
teacupful of water, mix it into the flour, make it smooth, and raise it
to any shape desired.
131.--Paste for small Raised Pies.
12 ozs. of butter, 2 lbs. of flour, and 1 gill of water. Mix the same
way as for baked custards.
132.--To make a handsome Tartlet.
Take a large oval dish and sheet it with the best puff paste; cut it
round the sides to make leaves, and fill it three-parts full with good
preserved fruit. On the fruit put some device in cut paste, such as a
large star, a sprig of flowers, or a tree.
133.--Nelson Cake or Eccles Cake.
Take 2 lbs. of puff paste, roll out half of it, spread 1½ lb. of clean
currants and ½ lb. of raw sugar upon it with a little spice, and dash
a little water on the sugar and currants to make them unite; then roll
out the remainder of the paste and lay it on the top. Ice it well with
whites of eggs and sugar. Bake on a square tin in a good oven.
134.--To make a Custard.
Boil 1 pint of milk with a bit of cinnamon and a little fresh
lemon-peel, then mix in a pint of cream and the yolks of 7 eggs well
beaten. Sweeten to taste and let the whole simmer until of a proper
thickness. It must not be allowed to boil. Stir it one way the whole
time with a small whisk, until quite smooth, then stir in a glass of
brandy.
135.--Common Custard.
Beat up 3 eggs, add 1 gill of cream or new milk and a little sugar. Put
a dust of cinnamon on each before putting in the oven.