Instructions: My hints for pie crust - I make mine with lard, which sounds awful, but makes the flakiest, most sog-resistant crust in the world. You take 1 cup of flour, 1/4 teaspoon of salt, and then cut in 1/3 cup of lard with a pastry cutter until the pastry makes little balls somewhere between cornmeal consistency and baby peas (not babyfood peas, silly!) Add a Tablespoon of ice water and cut it in. Add another Tablespoon and cut in.

Add more in tiny amounts just until the pastry sticks to itself and comes clean from the sides of the bowl. Now its ready to roll out. Now, let me tell you a couple of other great tools. There is a pastry cutter out there thats made from a solid piece of metal thats had several parallel slices made and then twisted and sharpened that works lots better than the old curved wire pastry cutters. It doesnt shift around and actually cuts the pastry. Look for one of these. Also, pick up a pastry cloth and rolling pin stocking. You liberally flour the cloth before putting on the dough, then liberally flour the stocking on the rolling pin, and your pastry will not only roll out without sticking to anything, but can also be easily transferred to the pie plate. All you do it put the plate upside down over the rolled out pastry, slide our hand under the pastry cloth and invert the cloth and plate. The cloth comes right off and theres your pastry perfectly centered in the pie plate. Oh, and as for measuring the lard, use the old trick of filling a 2-cup liquid measure with 1 cup of ice water and adding the lard until it measures 1 1/3 cup.

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