pie by Isaac Gertman

Lucas Kimball wrote in:

What do you suggest if a pie blows up in your oven? This hasn't happened to us yet, but we are wondering what to do if it does. Thank you, Lucas Kimball

Run, run right out of your kitchen down the block to the nearest bar & order yourself a pint (of ice cream for those under 21)!

Then call the fire department and tell them the situation. If you have not yet burned your house down, then invite them over for pie another day.

Cooking is one of those things that we do that always requires just a bit of caution. We do recommend not cooking your pie with an open flame. Who knows, the bacon fat could just cause a grease fire, perhaps even a small pie explosion. Flour is a good thing to keep on hand for grease fires in an oven or stove. Trust us on this one, flour will indeed put out a grease fire. As far as explosions go, especially with pies, we might recommend lowering the temperature on your oven, covering your pie loosely with aluminum foil and trying to avoid explosive ingredients such as popcorn, gas-holding fruits like prunes, bananas, and avoid having other things like cans of compressed liquids nearby.

If your pie does explode, don't look at this as a disaster, but rather a learning mystery. We would suggest that if you are exploding pies while a parents or spouse is out of the house, to have a dog or a younger brother to lay the blame on when someone gets home. If that doesn't work we suggest creating a gift to divert the attention of your loved one.

Good luck & wear your goggles. Safety first!

Pie meets bag and pie is SUCCESS!

Wendi wrote in:

Hey Catie and pie-ers!

I am proud to say I finally made an apple pie in a brown paper bag. I was terrified it would catch on fire in my oven the entire time and kept checking it, but when the time was up and I tore open the bag it was the juiciest, moistest pie I've ever had. Just wanted to share my greatest moment of
pie-dom.

Happy Holidays!
-Wendi.

Congratulations Wendi! This pie sounds amazing-- we'd love to share your beautiful pie story with the rest of the world. Glad to hear about your success!-- Keep on pieing!

Calls from the West

Well I just got off the Pie-1-1 direct dial hot line(used by those who have immediate needs and one of our phone numbers).

Nathan who is concocting a pear, ginger, and cheese pieesque ensemble for Thanksgiving. He phoned in from the Rainbow Grocery about crusts and ginger. He is making a buckwheat crust which sounds tasty and he had a question on what kind of Ginger to use. Crystallized, fresh, or powdered?

Well the Crystallized is yummy, but often doesn't pack enough of a punch. Fresh ginger packs a punch, but is not often sweet enough. Powdered ginger is pretty much useless in this case. So we decided that a lot of crystallized ginger with a bit of grated fresh ginger should do the trick. Adding a little lemon zest from the rind will also add a bit of unforeseen brightness. Your guests will wonder and awe over the delight.

Pie on Nathan

Whipped Cream or Ice Cream

painting by Terry Brooks

Sarah wrote:

Pie ladies, I like whipped cream with my pumpkin pie, but my husband likes vanilla ice cream. Who is right? (family harmony on Thursday is riding on your answer...) And my mother does her crust with Crisco, as her mother, a home economics instructor at University of Texas, did. I prefer butter because Crisco seems like car grease. But my mom's pies always taste better. What to do? Please advise.


Eeeks! Tough one!

Why not do both? Have both ice cream and whipped cream available for your guests to pick their favorite or both (this could be a popular choice for the under 12 crowd). Catie's mom garnishes her pumpkin pies with cool whip, but we think it just looks pretty and doesn't add much to the overall taste. We like to add a little ginger & cayenne when we whip cream. The spices go great with pumpkin pie to counterbalance the sweetness of pumpkin. Perhaps even a cinnamon or hazelnut gelato. It is fun to have the options to add complexity to your pie. Or, you could just fib and say, "the store was out of vanilla ice cream".

Crisco is a very even- keeled pie crust ingredient even though it does resemble car grease. It seems to lend a flakiness to a crust that butter doesn't. What if you tried your moms crust with part butter and Crisco, so you had the flakiness of Crisco and the butteryness of butter? After all we need a little grease for our engines every now and then.

Pie crusts can be very difficult, but with an expert in the family, she may have a few tricks up her sleeve. After we mix all the ingredients for a pie crust and gently blend it with a pastry blender we store it in the fridge for about an hour in a tight ball wrapped in plastic wrap. The extra time makes the dough easier to work with and also seems to glue the ingredients together more soundly.

Happy Pieing!

Catie and Meg

Crisco Crust

Nick Black wrote:

I used to bake a lot when I was a kid, mostly because my mom was a health food nut and wouldn't buy any store bought sweets. If you wanted the sweets, make-m your self, but you have to use the classic Crisco Pie Crust and you must use Crisco
http://www.pillsburybaking.com/Recipes/Details.aspx?RecipeID=1242


My mom as well, was a "Crisco Mom". Crisco does indeed make a flaky crust and these crusts are very consistent. Since we've all found out that trans fats aren't the wisest choice for our hearts & such, we suggest going for animal fats like butter, lard and our favorite, bacon fat. Here is a link to a bit of history on crisco. http://www.westonaprice.org/motherlinda/fats_crisco.html

Keep on baking & pieing!!

Pie Heretics

Hello Pie-1-1, I have a two or possibly three part question; 1. I hear that pie crust tastes better if you use bacon grease. Why is this so? 2. My girlfriend is a vegetarian, is there an equally tasty vegetarian alternative to bacon grease? 3. For many years I have used pre-made graham cracker crusts for my pumpkin pies. My, before mentioned, girlfriend claims that this is heresy and says that I know nothing about pies/Thanksgiving. Please advise, Pie Heretics (Oregon)

Dear Pie Heretics,

Thank you for using the pie-1-1 system.

1.Bacon in all its forms makes everything better. This is partially due to its fatty goodness, but also to it's smoked flavor. This smoky flavor lends itself to both sweet and salty foods. In the case of a good pie crust, it adds that little bit of savory to the pure brilliance of a sugary filling. You would never want to throw a pie made with bacon grease. It would be like spilling a good bottle of Whiskey.

2. We have gone around about this one. A vegetarian alternative to bacon grease is impossible. Having experienced the fakon , there is just no way to reproduce to porky goodness of bacon fat. We did decide how ever in the coming week to try an come up with an alternative, although not baconesque, that will knock you socks off.

We were chatting & of course bacon fat offers a certain saltiness (not like a lady with a bad attitude "oh, she's so salty today") but rather the sea, the white stuff that comes into play to really make us salivate. So, where does one begin? We might recommend sea salt. There are numerous varieties so it might just take a little experimenting. Fat is necessary, so as long as butter is ok, we'd recommend it. Also, think about smoking your fruits that you use in your pie, or even using a little smoked gouda with a delicious dask of sea salt. Mmmmmmmmmm.......
Well, and there is always the option of letting some music just seep into the mix. For instance...

The Cramps covering "Bacon Fat" originally by Andre Williams

3. We just wanted to start by saying that baking any pie is a wondrous thing. That being said, this is close to heresy. But we would never take the thanks out of Thanksgiving, so a pre-made crust isn't a bad thing, but should be used when you are short on time or if you are going to fling the pie at you worst enemy or your best friend. A graham cracker crust is quite and easy piece of cooking and then you have the options of mixing your flavors up a little bit.

Try the recipe below, but spruce it up with little fresh ground nutmeg, or some crushed walnuts

1. In a small saucepan or the microwave, melt 6 tablespoons of butter.
2. Place about 24 graham crackers in a plastic bag. Roll with a rolling pin until finely crushed. This may be done in small batches.
3. Measure 1 1/2 cups of graham cracker crumbs into a medium bowl.
4. Add 1/4 cup of sugar to the graham crackers.
5. Add the melted butter.
6. Stir or blend together with your hands.
7. Press into the pie plate or other pan.
8. To pre-bake the pie crust, bake for 8 to 10 minutes in a preheated 350 degree F. oven.

bacon grease crust huh?

Pickle storage container used to keep bacon grease safe

Celia wrote in about a bacon grease crust

We love bacon in all it's forms! Have you tried the Vosges bacon chocolate bar? or bacon wrapped dates. Catie and I were talking about creating a chicken pot pie, but instead of top crust to just use strips of bacon, we'll let you know how it turns out.

Anyway the trick to using bacon fat is treating it like butter meaning chill the hell out of it. I have used the bacon grease crust for an apple pie, but it would be delightful for any pie, especially pecan, pumpkin, or sweet potato. Below is a pretty great description of a bacon fat crust recipe.

c. rendered bacon fat
2 1/2 c. AP flour
1 t. salt
1/2 t. sugar
4-6 T. very cold water

Measure bacon fat and then freeze either in plastic wrap or a plastic cup/bowl for approximately 1 hour. Remove cold fat from freezer, then cut into 1/2 inch cubes.

Sift flour, salt, and sugar into a mixing bowl, then cut bacon fat into flour mixture until it resembles coarse pea-sized pebbles. Gradually mix in 4 table spoons of water, mixing with a fork until dough just comes together. The dough is ready if you pinch a finger full together and it does not crumble. If necessary, Add more water, a little at a time until dough reaches desired consistency.

Place dough onto a clean cutting board, press together, then split into two balls. Wrap each ball in plastic wrap, and refrigerate about 1 hour (or longer).

Then roll out at will