What's the secret to flaky pie crusts? Mine always seem to come out tough. With a standard recipe (1/3 cup shortening or lard to 1 cup flour, plus a pinch of salt for flavor), the secret is cold. Have the lard cold. Use just enough ice water to moisten the flour to stick it together, and then handle it as little as possible. If it won't be baked right away, keep it in the refrigerator. You don't want the shortening to melt into the flour at all until the crust is baking. The little balls of shortening covered with flour are flattened when the crust is rolled out, and when they are baked, they make the flakes of a tender, flaky crust. ...more

November 30, 2008

We've seen the federal government at its worst over the past six months. Consider the controversies over contaminated tomatoes and meat, tainted toys, toxic trailers, counterfeit heparin, aircraft groundings, veterans' care, missing warheads and unrelenting contract fraud. For every NASA success on the surface of Mars, there seems to be a failure back on Earth. ...more

July 13, 2008