The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-04-04
DEGENERATION OF PIE On
The Abandonment OF tho Ronins-pin Tho
Probable Cause.

From the Lancet.
In tho days of my youth, writes an elderly
correspondent. there was no kitchen imple-
ment In more constant demand than the rolling
pin. and one Of the principal accomplishments on
which our good, old-fashioned housewives used
to pride themselves was the fabrication of light
pastry. It was popularity supposed that in order
TO be easy Of digestion all dough or paste in
tended for consumption should first be thor
oughly kneaded and then rolled and rerolled for
a very considerable period of time. In fact. so
lengthy and laborious was the process that, in
fgurative language, the excellence of the prod
elbow grease devot cd to its manufacture.
Nowadays all this has been changed. It is
name has disappeared from at least one popular
dictionary, but. alasl how shorn Of their dig
Was a a sEilfn %lR0f constguci earnestly nsfryS a p4li of spi IL
able weight, and accurately balanced: but now
that hurry and superhciality, are paramount,
specially prepared fiours, and the patent bak-
ing powders. whose name is legion. the lump
Of imperfectly kneaded dough is simply
flatteDed out to the requisite thickness. and
then without further manipulation incon-
t t,,Sdinyg utilized In the H. production OF PIE,
grandmothers of the impetuous danes who now
preside over the preparation OF our food were
wont to impart varying degrees OF elaborate
Of kiekshaw il was designed to surmount,
product was TO be. the more protracted was the
use OF the rolling-pin; but not even in the case
Ol u DuulDle TOly-pOly wOulu the uOuRny
envelope have been subjected TO the brief. not
to say cOntem ptuous. treatment now indis-
criminately emf loyed for all kinds of pastry.
Never by any chance do we meet with prop
erly made pie crust: the delicious, toothsome
morsels that left our mouths unclogged. and
were perfectly amenable to our gastric juice,
are no longer to be had for love or money. The
airy rOt-du-rent. the crisp and saccharous tart
let. the delicate puff. and the imponderable
dumping, ali. all have vanished into the limbo
of forgotten excellences, leaving behind them
naught save the fond memories of an irrevoca-
BILE past. There can DO no doubt. says our elo-
quent II melancholy complainant in conclusion.
that dyspepsia. with it's ever-lenRthening train
Of woe. is largely due to neglect Of the rolling
pin. Like every body else. our cooks are in too
great a hurry. They grudge the time. he urges.
which their forbears lavished SO freely, and
hence one OF the most potent sources of that
ever-increasing degeneracy of our race to which
attention has lately been so prominently di-
rected.
We need scarcely say that we cannot accept
our correspondents views in their entirety. but
there may possibly be some foundation for his
invective. The production Of wholesome pastry
Is unQuestionably a serious matter, and II the
neglected rolling-pin be in reality a cause of
deterioration, the sooner the attention Of the
wielders of that implement is called to the fact
the better 1t will be for all consumers of the
delicacy. In a general way cooks are undoubted-
ly conservative. but we are inclined to believe
that rolling-pins have gone out of fashion.