Comparing Apples to Apples

Jeff and I have been giving serious consideration to the exact right blend of apples to use in a pie. We can agree that a single pie should have a variety of apples ranging from tart to sweet. One of us, however, favors using a combination of a couple of very tart and a couple of very sweet apples. And one of us thinks that ideally all varieties used in a single pie should exhibit both sweetness and tartness in a single apple. But I can't tell you who expounds which apple theory because we're setting up a blind taste test at work tomorrow. We're each making an apple pie with relatively similar ingredients, differing only in varieties of apples used. We're going to try to keep things cordial however, because really, when there are two pies, everyone wins. Please enjoy this photo of my first batch of food processor made pie crust.

Squeeeeee! Food Processor!

Look what came in the mail today!!!!!!!! Food Processor!!!!!! It's an early birthday present from the whole family (Mom, Dad, Sues, Anders, Erik and El Segundo). I'm so excited that I can barely take an in-focus picture of it. Here it is in box, and out of the box with dough blade in place. DOUGH BLADE!!!!!!!!

Lemon Chess

Well, the crust came out tough as old shoe leather, but the lemon filling, and the accompanying blackberry sauce were quite nice. Mom and Dad were of great assistance and searched out several chess pie recipes for me to chose from. I purposely chose a recipe that called for corn meal in the filling because I wanted to see how it would turn out. So I used the pie and crust recipe from New Southern Cooking by Nathalie Dupree (1986) and a blackberry sauce recipe from Lee Bailey's Southern Food and Plantation Houses (1989).

After inspecting several varieties of white corn meal, yellow corn meal, corn flour, masa, polenta, etc. etc. I bought a little bag of what seemed to be finely ground yellow corn meal. To reassure myself that the pie wouldn't be gritty, I passed the corn meal through a sieve but it really wasn't necessary. The texture was quite pleasant, without a hint of grit. I think the crust was so bad because it had to be pre-baked; I must have over-cooked it. I think next time I would substitute a shortbread base from my favorite lemon bar recipe to use as crust. The pie itself was rather sweet, so the slight tang of the berry sauce was nice to cut the sweetness. My new pie basket was wonderfully helpful.

Spoiled Rotten

I pretty much have the nicest relatives ever. The pie recipes, tips and stories have been rolling in from all quarters, and lately, my mailman has been groaning under the weight of all the fabulous pie-themed gifts that have been arriving. Mom and Dad have been scouring their cookbooks for every chess pie recipe that they can find. Auntie Sues sent me a rolling pin, some great vintage cookbooks, and a reversible apple-print apron that Auntie Nance made for Grandma Bird once upon a time. Earlier this week, Uncle Rolf sent me a fabulous gift box of apple finds from the antique stores of Iowa, including two apple plates, a ceramic apple wall hanging, and a great lidded glass apple. I saw a similar glass apple several months ago and have been pining for it ever since! Just a box arrived from Auntie Nance containing among other things, an apple print place mat that I suspect she made herself. And what are these items pictured in? Could it be? Yes. It is. It's a double-decker pie basket from Auntie Nance. I did not even know that such a thing existed, or how I could possibly have lived without it all these years. Now I don't have to worry about my pies sliding around in the car anymore. Also, now I can go on the two-pie-picnic of my dreams. Thanks so much for all the great gifts! I feel like the world's luckiest pie-lover.

Checkmate.

I was contemplating what dessert to make for an Easter get together, and I've decided that I want to try my hand at making a lemon chess pie. Now, I've eaten lemon chess pie any number of times, but never made one. I've been looking at recipes online and in cookbooks and I'm totally stumped by the fact that the majority of lemon chess pie recipes I've found call for corn meal in the filling. How does that not make for a totally gritty pie? At first I thought it was a misprint for corn starch, or even for corn syrup, but no, it's always corn meal. Even recipes online that purport to be Bill Clinton's favorite lemon chess pie call for corn meal. Maybe they mean some kind of magically super finely ground corn meal? Has anyone out there ever actually made such a thing? Also, do y'all think it is acceptable to use a graham cracker crust? I just think that would be so nice for a change, but I don't know if that tampers with the essence of chess pie....

Baker-in-Chief

I consider myself very lucky in that I have fabulous co-workers. And I don't just say that because some of them read the pie blog. Our office is an incredible mix of smart, funny, sweet people with an amazing array of talents and interests. Not least among these is my boss, Jeff, who has contributed many fine articles and recipes to the pie archives. He and his family are true pie aficionados. On Friday, we had an office birthday party for our two wonderful March birthdays, and Jeff made a really super apple pie. I figured that I should write it up, because it has caused me to reevaluate a few things about how I approach apple pie.

Overall, it was a lovely, sweet pie with a beautiful and tasty crust. Jeff tried to claim that the crust was not up to his standard, but it was certainly a million times better than any crust I have ever made. For apples, he used one each of the following: Pink Lady, Jazz, Sonya, Braeburn, and Granny Smith. It was a really interesting mix of apple flavors - you could really taste the sweet apples (I'm thinking Pink Lady?). I had been leaning towards the tart apples in my mixes, but now I'm reconsidering. Another thing that was a revelation for me was that he diced his apples, so that they all mixed really well, and every forkful of pie had pieces of every apple. It was super! Despite the smallness of the pieces, they retained their shape and that slight crispness that is so important. I think I need to be cutting my apples smaller. I had found some recipes for grated apple pies and just couldn't understand how that could be appealing - I think now that it must be a lot like the diced apples? Hmmmm. Experimentation is necessary. Oh, and also? Jeff didn't use any cinnamon, so the apple flavors really came through. Maybe apple pie doesn't need any spices at all? Well, it was a delicious pie and it reminds me that I need to get back in the kitchen soon. I have some recipes all picked out; now if I could just find some time.....

Happy Pi Day!

Hope you're all celebrating the day in style. I'll be thinking of you all at 1:59, the stroke of pi (3/14, 1:59). I know, I know. If you send me pictures of your pie or math for the day, I'll post them!

Three things to know:

1. The Pie Odyssey will make more pies soon - I've had a couple of other projects take momentary priority, but have not given up pie. Although I was momentarily tempted to start a corn fritter odyssey...

2. If you are a millionaire who makes pies and lives in Charlottesville, it turns out that rendered goose fat is available at Foods of All Nations.....at a price of $12 for a little bitty container! Now I have a good excuse not to make a goose fat crust.

3. Don't forget that this Friday (3/14) is national Pi Day....the day when pie lovers and mathematicians celebrate together. Not to be confused with National Pie Day, a holiday which is only about baked goods.