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Lard for Puff-Paste

Then there is the question of expense. They hate to furnish first-rate butter enough to make good puff-paste; people are fond of pies and pastries, and it costs like sixty. There is little use in making paste as rich as it can be made anyway, except when it is for fancy articles--the tall puffed up edges of pies are oftenest thrown away with all their fine butter in them--only because people cannot eat everything, and the middle of the pie goes first. Butter that is only just a little off does well enough, but butter that is bad spoils the whole article, filling and all, clear through. Good lard is far better than poor butter to make good eatable white and light pastry, and some sorts will make just as tall puff-paste as butter will. Oily and grainy lard will not; it has to be the firm, tough tenacious kind of dried out lard. The very best everyday kind of paste is made with half butter and half good firm lard. Then a little salt must be strewn over the lumps of laid after they are spread on the dough. Butter alone carries salt enough.