Seven-Up Pastry

Mix flour and salt with the lard. I use a potato masher to cut the lard into the flour till it resembles course crumbs. Mix in the 7-Up and stir with a fork till combined (start with 3/4 cup and add more if needed). Gather pastry into a ball and knead together a few strokes till incorporated. It should be fairly smooth and non-sticky.

Use about 1/2 cup flour for rolling out your pastry. Pastry is very smooth and workable and the scraps re-roll well.

Yield: about 3 double crust large pies or 6 smaller pies. Note: instead of 7-Up, you may also use Gingerale, soda water, etc. When using soda water, add about 2 tablespoons of sugar to the recipe. This is also great for quiches. Although it has sugar in the recipe, it's not really a sweet pastry crust.