A Forest Ranger's Cookbook - Pastry

from The Lookout Cookbook, 1938. U.S. Forest Service, Region One

PASTRY

Pie Crust No. 1
2 cups flour
1 cup lard
1 teaspoon salt

Use enough water to mix dough so that it sticks together. Mix as it is given until you have soft dough, then roll out but do not mix or knead just fix it together enough so as to make it stick together in order to put in the pan.

Pie Crust No. 2
3/4 cup lard
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons cold water (about this amount, more or less may have to be added)

Cut lard into flour until it looks like meal. Sprinkle water a small amount at t time over the mixture until all particles are moistened and in lumps. Press lumps together and roll out on floured board.

Sweet Potato Pie
1 1/2 cups mashed sweet potatoes
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2 cups milk

Steam and strain fresh sweet potatoes or bake and put through a sieve. Canned sweet potatoes are ready for use. Add remaining ingredients in the order above given, mixing well after each addition. Turn into a crust lined pan and bake. Use a rather high temperature at first, to cook the bottom and sides of crust. Reduce the temperature and continue cooking until a silver knife inserted in the center will come out clean. Do not let the pie boil, as that will make it watery. This is just like pumpkin pie.

Raisin Pie
1/2 package raisins
1 1/2 cups water

Let boil until raisins are real soft, then add:

2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup sugar

Mix together, add little water to make a paste, then add to first mixture, and cook until clear.

Take off the stove and add:
1 teaspoon lemon extract
1 teaspoon butter

Pour this mixture into a baked pie crust.

Plain apple Pie
2 or 3 cups of canned apples, sliced (Use apples in accordance with size of pie pan.)
1 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
cinnamon
nutmeg
small piece of butter

Line a pie pan with pie crust. Put a little flour (approximately 1 tablespoon) in the bottom of the crust. Mix apples, seasonings and sugar together and then fill the pie crust. Dot with pieces of butter and sprinkle with a little more cinnamon. Cover with another crust in which 2 or 3 slits have been made. Bottom crust should be dampened around the edge of page with water to make top crust stick to it. Seal two crusts together by pressing with the prongs of a fork and cut away surplus crust. Dampen the top crust with a little milk or beaten yolk of an egg to make it richer and a rich brown. Bake in a moderate oven for approximately one hour.

Prune Pie
1 cup cooked prunes
1 tablespoon flour
1 teaspoon lemon extract
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup water or juice 2 tablespoons butter

Cook the prunes with the other ingredients until slightly thickened. Add a little cinnamon or nutmeg, if desired. Bake between two crusts. This amount makes a small pie.

Meringue for Pies
2 egg whites
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon sugar

Beat whites of two eggs until stiff, add gradually 1/4 teaspoon vanilla, 1/2 teaspoon sugar and continue beating; beat until it will stand in peaks, then put on top of pie and allow to brown a rich golden brown in oven.

Cream Pie and Its Variations
1 cup milk few grains of salt
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 egg yolks or 1 whole egg
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Scald the milk. Mix the cornstarch, sugar and salt, and add hot milk slowly. Cook 20 minutes over hot water. Beat the egg yolks and add slowly, stirring rapidly. Cool and add vanilla, put into a baked pie crust.

Vary in the following ways:

Chocolate Pie
Use only 7/8 tablespoon cornstarch. Add 2 tablespoons of cocoa just before removing custard from the stove. Beat well. Cover with a meringue.

Spice Pie
Add two teaspoons each of ground cloves and cinnamon to the cooked filling.

Butterscotch Pie
1 1/2 cups milk
2 eggs
1 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons cornstarch

Heat one cup of milk and the sugar until sugar is free from lumps. Mix the cornstarch, 1/2 cup milk and egg yolks and add to the hot mixture slowly. Cook in a double broiler until thick, stirring constantly, then for 10 minutes longer. Add butter. When cool, pour into a baked pie crust. Cover with meringue.

Huckleberry Pie
1 recipe for pie crust
1 tablespoon flour
3/4 cup sugar

Line pie pan with crust, sprinkle the bottom of the pie with flour, then put half of your sugar in bottom. Put in the berries (filling to the top). Put in rest of sugar and sprinkle with lumps of butter. Then put on top crust

Custard Pie
3 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 cups milk
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon nutmeg
2 eggs

Beat eggs slightly; add sugar, salt and milk. Line pie tin with pie crust and build up. Strain in mixture, and sprinkle with few gratings of nutmeg. Bake in quick oven at first to set rum. Decrease the heat, as egg and milk in combination need to be cooked at t lower temperature.
When this is done, a silver knife when inserted will be clean when it is taken out.