Pie Crust

You feel like a real cook when you make a successful pie crust. And my handsome nephew, Alex, knows the essential ingredient--lard--real lard, not the shelf stable kind--the kind that needs to be refrigerated or frozen. Where do you get that from Alex? Uncle Curt always picks it up for me. Anyway, here's how:

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 tablespoon sugar

1 1/2 sticks very cold unsalted butter, small dice

1/3 cup very cold lard, small dice

6 to 8 tablespoons (about 1/2 cup) ice water

Whisk the flour, salt, and sugar in the large bowl*. Add the butter and lard. With your fingers (or a couple of knives, or a pastry cutter) break the fat into pea-size portions. Add ice water a tablespoon at a time, mixing until the dough forms a ball. Dump out on a floured board and roll into a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Makes 2 crusts. Roll out on a well-floured board with a well-floured rolling pin, turning and flouring the dough as you go. Fold the dough in half before placing in the pie pan to avoid ripping.

*If you're lucky enough to have a large food processor, load it up with the flour, salt and sugar, and pulse until mixed. Add the butter and lard and pulse again until they are the size of peas. Then turn on the machine and pour the ice water down the feed tube one tablespoon at a time until the dough forms a ball. I'll do this in my little food processor if I cut the recipe in half. It works pretty slick.

Update: You can get lard at Circle V Meats in Spanish Fork--thanks Alex!