Paste

“ They are best the day they are baked. Some persons prefer them without any paste beneath, the dishes being filled entirely with the mixture; and if they have broad edges, a border of thick puff-paste may be laid along the edge, and handsomely notched. We think this the best way; as paste that is baked under any mixture that has milk and eggs in it, is liable, in consequence of the moisture, to become clammy and heavy, and is therefore unwholesome. ”

“ Paris, a distinguished British writer on diet, says that all pastry is "an abomination." And yet, go where we will, we find it often on the table. Hardly any one, whether old or young, attempts to do without it.
There are indeed some, who will not eat pie-crust, or high-seasoned cakes formed of paste; but yet will not hesitate to eat hot bread, or rolls, or biscuits made of wheat flour, bolted. Now what is this but paste? If we could see the contents of the stomach, an hour after the mass is swallowed, we should find it to be paste, and mere paste.
And yet the evil is increasing everywhere. ”

“ The medium used for adhering the pictures is common flour paste, the pictures being also washed over the outside with the same, and all the edges effectually fastened down, the cotton cloth to which they are applied being tightly stretched over a wooden frame. When domestic paste is made, the material is frequently injured by scorching, or by the addition of too much water. Good paste, when spread on paper, will not strike through it like water, but will remain on the surface, like butter on a piece of bread. ”

“ LUSTER PASTE.
This is used for plate glass, picture frames, and metal. Five parts of very finely washed and pulverized chalk; 5 parts of Vienna lime, powdered; 5 parts of bolus, powdered; 5 parts of wood ashes, powdered; 5 parts of English red, powdered; 5 parts of soap powder. Work all together in a kneading machine, to make a smooth, even paste, adding spirit. The consistency of the paste can be varied, by varying the amount of spirit, from a solid to a soft mass. ”

“ A single long stroke produces the best results in laying paste lines. Frequent touches produces an uneven line which will mar the beauty of paste work. Be sure to lay the paste high and round like a thin cord. If it should flatten, too much oil has been used ”

“ For use in printing, the black paste is mixed with a somewhat large quantity of albumen, and the goods after printing are strongly steamed. The paste can be pressed into moulds, and used as a substitute for Indian ink.” (A. Müller.) “Mix equal weights of aniline (containing toluidine) , hydrochloric acid, and potassium chlorate, with a minute quantity of cupric chloride and a sufficient quantity of water, and leave the mixture to evaporate spontaneously, when a black powder will be obtained.” ”

“ Superior Paste.—Mix flour and water, with a little brown sugar, and a very small quantity of corrosive sublimate in powder, and boil it until sufficiently thick and smooth. The sugar will keep the paste flexible, and prevent it scaling off from smooth surfaces, and the corrosive sublimate will check its fermentation: a drop or two of oil of anise-seed, lavender, or bergamot will prevent the paste turning mouldy. ”

“ It seems a very simple matter, that requires no directions; but even here a few remarks may not be out of place.
When your paper is ready in a pile of about fifty pages, each page numbered in its proper sequence, you can proceed to work. For the purpose of laying down slips on uniform pages at one time, paste [pg 190] is the only satisfactory material. Gum will only be used by the inexperienced. It cannot be used satisfactorily on large surfaces, like paste, and when it oozes up between the slips it is stickier and does more damage in fixing the pages together than paste does. ”

“ The plaster must not be stroked with the brush, but the cast must be covered with an even coat of paste about one-half inch thick. If the paste is too thin it will run off, while if it is too thick it will not stick at all. A little experimenting will easily show what consistency is desirable. After about twelve hours, or at the latest the next morning if the starch is put on in the afternoon, the paste must be carefully pulled off with the fingers. In general the dirt will be taken off with the paste. ”

“ Care must be taken, in mixing the flour with the liquid ingredients, that they do not escape, and that the paste be very lightly gathered together, to prevent it from forming into lumps, which render it stiff, and very difficult to be worked, thereby in some degree causing a failure, which is easily ascertained by the paste, when drawn out, immediately receding, which arises from its having been clumsily and irregularly mixed. ”

“ Good paste, when cold, should not be stiff like pudding, but should be easily worked with a brush. In order to prevent a skin forming on the top whilst cooling, pour over the paste as much cold water as will cover the surface immediately after the mixing with the boiling water ”

“ It must only be touched by the lightest fingers, every cut must be made with a sharp knife, and done with one quick stroke so that the paste is not dragged at all; in covering a pie dish or patty pan, you are commonly directed to mold the paste over it as thin as possible, which conveys the idea that the paste is to be pressed over and so made thin ”

“ A fluid paste is made by pouring into a porcelain jar 5 kilogrammes of potato-starch with 6 kilogrammes of water and 250 grammes of white nitric acid. Keep the whole in a warm place for forty-eight hours, stirring it frequently, and then boil it till syrupy and transparent. ”

“ Ingredients.—Puff-paste, the white of an egg, sifted sugar, jelly or preserve. Mode.—Make some good puff-paste (trimmings answer very well for little dishes of this sort) ; roll it out to the thickness of 1⁄4 inch, and with a round fluted paste-cutter stamp out as many round pieces as may be required; brush over the upper side with the white of an egg; roll up the pieces, pressing the paste lightly together where it joins; place the rolls on a baking-sheet, and bake for about 1⁄4 hour. ”

“ Mix the paste well till it becomes a lump of dough. Then beat it on all sides with the rolling-pin. Transfer it to the paste-board, and roll it out thin. Divide it equally into square pieces. Put thickly on each piece a portion of the cream or custard mixture, and fold over it the four corners of the paste, so that they approach each other in the centre. Dredge each tart with powdered loaf-sugar. Set them into the oven, and let them bake of a light brown. They are best when fresh, but not warm; and will be found delicious. ”

“ If a very strong paste is required, add
a quantity of flour equal in weight to the gum, without boiling the
mixture. The paste improves in strength when it begins to ferment.
Tin Box Cement.--To fix labels to tin boxes either of the following will
answer: 1. Soften good glue in water, then boil it in strong vinegar,
and thicken the liquid while boiling with fine wheat flour, so that a
paste results. 2. Starch paste, with which a little Venice turpentine
has been incorporated while warm. ”

“ THE variety of pastes is to the pastry what first stocks are to soups and sauces, and must be very properly first described, particularly as it is here I must refer my readers for paste even used for the hors-d’œuvre and entrées; to succeed you must be particular in your proportions, and very careful in the mixing ”

“ 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. ”

“ If you have a box of cutters you can cut this paste into all sorts of shapes according to the shape of the cutters, or you can cut each thin cake into pieces about the same size, and then with a sharp dry knife cut the paste into threads. These threads or ornamental shapes can be thrown into boiling clear soup, when they will separate of their own accord. Nudel paste is, in fact, home-made Italian paste, or, when cut into threads, home-made vermicelli. It is very nourishing, as it is made with eggs and flour. ”

“ Under-Paste.—Put one pound of flour on the paste-board with six ounces of butter in the middle of it; also two ounces of sugar, two eggs, and cold water enough to make an ordinary paste, neither too stiff nor too soft. Roll the paste down to a thickness of one-eighth of an inch, spread it on a tin dish or bakepan, buttered slightly, raise the borders a little or place a strip of puff-paste all around it; put the fruit in the middle, then cover with a thin piece of puff-paste or place strips of it only over the fruit, and bake in a rather quick oven, about 390 degrees Fahr. ”

“ The next thing to be considered is the oven, as the baking of pastry requires particular attention. Do not put it into the oven until it is sufficiently hot to raise the paste; for the best-prepared paste, if not properly baked, will be good for nothing. Brushing the paste as often as rolled out, and the pieces of butter placed thereon, with the white of an egg, assists it to rise in leaves or flakes. As this is the great beauty of puff-paste, it is as well to try this method. ”

“ Permanent Paste, made by adding to each half-pint of flour paste without alum, fifteen grains of corrosive sublimate, previously rubbed to powder in a mortar, the whole to be well mixed; this, if prevented from drying, by being kept in a covered pot, remains good any length of time, and is therefore convenient; but unfortunately it is extremely poisonous, though its excessively nauseous taste would prevent its being swallowed accidentally. It possesses the great advantage of not being liable to the attacks of insects. ”

“ Work the whole into a paste, and spread it out to dry on a sheet of clean brown waterproof linen.
When the paste is perfectly dry, but not before, proceed to beat the Pig violently, with the handle of a large broom. If he squeals, beat him again. ”

“ The 56 thin slip employed in surface finish is more highly argillaceous than the paste. The clay used was probably mostly light in color, as the paste is now quite uniformly so. The baking was effected apparently without a very high degree of temperature and by methods that left few marks or discolorations upon the vessels. In hardness and durability the paste corresponds pretty closely with that of our red porous earthenware. The softer pieces can be scratched or even carved with a knife. ”

“ Waffles.—Make a thin paste with eight ounces of flour, six ounces of pulverized sugar, two eggs, a few drops of essence to flavor, half a liquor-glass of brandy or rum, and milk. Warm and butter both sides of the mould, put some of the paste into it, close it gently, set it on the fire, turn over to heat both sides equally, dust them with sugar when done, and serve either warm or cold. It takes hardly a minute for each with a good fire. ”

“ Paste for Printing Office.--Take two gallons of cold water and one quart
wheat flour, rub out all the lumps, then add one-fourth pound of finely
pulverized alum and boil the mixture for ten minutes, or until a thick
consistency is reached. Now add one quart of hot water and, boil again,
until the paste becomes a pale brown color, and thick. The paste should
be well stirred during both processes of cooking. Paste thus made will
keep sweet for two weeks and prove very adhesive. ”

“ Yet if the reader will take a piece of thoroughly wetted paper, and knead or macerate it with a knife for some time with gum in solution, he will find it gradually becomes a soft paste, as flexible and as capable of moulding as putty or clay. This is not the same as papier-mâché, which consists of paper merely wet or mixed and boiled with paste, and contains fibre and knottiness. The finely macerated paper, combined with an adhesive, is ductile, impressionable, sets well, and readily receives pressure on rolling, under which it becomes extremely hard. ”

“ Paste, pāst, n. a mass of anything made soft by wetting: flour and water forming dough for pies, &c.: a cement made of flour, water, &c.: a fine kind of glass for making artificial gems.—v.t. to fasten with paste.—n. Paste′board, a stiff board made of sheets of paper pasted together, &c.—adj. made of such, unsubstantial. [O. Fr. paste (Fr. pâte) —Late L. pasta—Gr. pastē, a mess of food—pastos, salted—passein, to sprinkle.] ”

“ For every description of pastry made from puff paste, try if the oven is hot by placing your hand about half way in, and hold it there about a quarter of a minute, if you can hold it there that time without inconvenience it would not be hot enough, but if you cannot judge of the heat, the safest method would be, try a piece of the paste previous to baking the whole ”

“ Sift over sugar, put them back in the oven to colour them; then fill the rings with preserve of any bright colour. Dish them high on a napkin, and serve. So many pretty dishes of pastry may be made by stamping puff-paste out with fancy cutters, and filling the pieces, when baked, with jelly or preserve, that our space will not allow us to give a separate recipe for each of them; but as they are all made from one paste, and only the shape and garnishing varied, perhaps it is not necessary, and by exercising a little ingenuity, variety may always be obtained. ”