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Imitation Lemon Pie Acid Pie

6 ounces of bread or cracker crumbs. 1 quart of water. 1 pound of sugar. 1 rounded teaspoonful of tartaric acid. 2 tablespoonsful of lemon extract. 5 eggs, or 10 yolks for richer color, Mix all the ingredients together cold. The imitation of lemon mixture is very close and the pie is better than the real that is sometimes made with green and bitter lemons It is not everyone that calls himself a pastry cook can turn out hotel pies artistically, and however much the casual reader who thinks of pie only as something to eat may be amused at the idea we assure him there are possibilities of taking high position among the other things of beauty on the weal thy table for the hotel pie which do not exist for the private house pie, or the baker's pie, or if they do are so remote it will take ages of domestic pie culture to bring them in sight. The experienced hotel steward knows now instantly when he has secured a fully developed hotel or fine steamboat pie maker. Your baker trained to work for the hungry pie eater rather than for the luxurious admirers of beautiful pies covers every pie with a top crust, which is the first sign, but the great sign of his standing is set up when he takes both hands and cuts off the pastry by pressing against the edge of the plate, whirling the pie round at the same time. Why should he make or wish to make fine leaf paste to press and mash in that way? But your first-class pastry cook having made his paste so that the flakes will rise and open as distinct and separate as the leaves of a rose and of a thinness more impalpable than that no matter how rapidly he may work, will roll evenly, throw it on the pie pan lightly, shake it down to place with a little jar upon the table, take it up on the fingers of the left hand and cut around with a sharp knife, not leaving the least sign of pressure, finger mark or drag or tear about it. These pies though having tall flake-piled edges are pretty sure to be almost as dry and free from grease as flaky biscuits and quite wholesome both to eat and to see. If people say that hotel pies are not so we reply that it is because the pastry art is somewhat difficult and there are few masters of it the beginners are slow to get hold of the fine touches and the hotels are full of half taught beginners. We don't know anything about the private houses, and these remarks make no invidious reflections upon the household pie. With both bottom and top crust rolled thin and powdered sugar on top it is good. But the hotel pie contemplates life from a different stand point and like all the products of high art it is somewhat aristocratic Literature is cheap and common--you can buy a rare classic for ten cents--the best thoughts of the best writers for a nickel--imitations not to be detected of the rarest gems for a dollar or two--but the ideal hotel pie is only for the few. So careful and tender is the good workman of his leaf paste that he slants the knife outwards when cutting that the paste may be wide and make a broad edge; and that broad edge he notches with a sharp knife in the places where the pie is to be divided, lest with a rude pressure somebody will crush and spoil the flakes in cutting the pie after it is baked.

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