To make good light paste requires much practice; as it is not only from the proportions, but from the manner of mixing the various ingredients, that paste acquires its good or bad qualities. Paste should be worked up very lightly, and no strength or pressure used; it should be rolled out _from you_, as lightly as possible. A marble slab is better than a board to make paste on. The flour should be dried for some time before the fire previously to being used. In forming it into paste it should be wetted as little as possible, to prevent its being tough. It is a great mistake to imagine _lard_ is better adapted for pastry than butter or clarified fat; it may make the paste lighter, but neither the color nor the flavor will be nearly so good, and the saving is extremely trifling. To ensure lightness, paste should be set in the oven directly it is made. Puff paste requires a brisk oven. Butter should be added to the paste in small pieces. The more times the paste is folded and rolled, if done with a light hand and the butter added with skill, the richer and lighter it will prove. It is no longer customary to line the dish for pies and fruit tarts. * * * * * PLAIN PUFF PASTE. Mix a pound of flour into a stiff paste with a little water, first having rubbed into it about two ounces of butter, then roll it out; add by degrees the remainder of the butter (there should be altogether half a pound of butter), fold the paste and roll about two or three times. * * * * * VERY RICH PUFF PASTE. Mix in the same manner equal quantities of butter and flour, taking care to have the flour dried for a short time before the fire; it may be folded and rolled five or six times. This paste is well suited to vol-au-vents and tartlets; an egg well beaten and mixed with the paste is sometimes added. * * * * * PLAIN SHORT CRUST. Put half a pound of fresh butter to a pound of flour, add the yolks of two eggs and a little powdered sugar, mix into a paste with water, and roll out once. * * * * * EGG PASTE, CALLED IN MODERN COOKERY NOUILLES. This is formed by making a paste of flour and beaten eggs, without either butter or water; it must be rolled out extremely thin and left to dry; it may then be cut into narrow strips or stamped with paste cutters. It is more fashionable in soups than vermicelli. * * * * * BEEF DRIPPING PASTE. Mix half a pound of clarified dripping into one pound of flour; work it into a paste with water, and roll out twice. This is a good paste for a common meat pie. * * * * * GLAZE FOR PASTRY. When the pastry is nearly baked, brush it over with white of egg, cover it thickly with sifted sugar, and brown it in the oven, or it may be browned with a salamander.