Apple Pie

[Chefguy]

I made an apple pie yesterday. Big deal, right? Well, it was the first anniversary of my sister’s passing, and she was a master of the pie crust, so I did it in her honor.

Pie has always been as big a deal in my family as gravy. My mother was a pie making machine, and my stepfather was a pie eating machine. Cream pies, meringues, fruit, it was all good, and my mother was masterful at it. Apple pie, in particular, resonated in our house (full crust, lattice crust, crumble topping), and, as the adage goes, practice makes perfection.

My sister learned at her mother’s knee, whereas I, being a stubborn little shit, spurned every effort to teach me anything culinary. As a result, I never learned how to make a proper pie crust until I moved back to Anchorage in 1998. My mother was long dead by then, but I asked my sister over to teach us how to make a tasty, flaky, flavorful crust, and she happily agreed.

It was a fun time, as my wife and I struggled with the dough, and my Sis stood behind us telling us “No, no, no! Stop overworking it!” At one point she playfully bopped my wife on the head with the wooden ruler we were using to measure crust diameter. Despite that, the pie turned out well.

It’s a great memory and yesterday we honored it by turning out an apple pie that she would have nodded approval for. A couple of scoops of vanilla bean ice cream on top and toasting her with our forks, we chowed down. I miss her a lot.

Oh, and we still have the ruler. And yes, we did a token bop on the head with it.

[gigi]

What wonderful memories of your sister. My mom (RIP) made excellent crust too --and my favorite pie of hers was French Silk Pie. Dense but moussy chocolate, sugar crunching in your teeth, flaky crust, homemade whipped cream. She’d make it for company and my brother and I did not eat dinner with the guests. The next morning we’d make a beeline to the fridge hoping there was pie left, and we’d eat it for breakfast!

I did want to learn Mom’s crust but the first step is spreading flour on the surface with your hand. I have a phobia about touching flour so I immediately quit and had her do it. The times I’ve tried to make the French Silk Pie, the weather was wrong or something and it didn’t whip up as big as hers.

[GrumpyBunny]

Great memory, Chefguy. I learned to make pie crust by watching my grandmother. My mother, bless her, doesn’t make as good a pie crust as my grandmother. Grandma used Crisco, mom used butter. I came up with a mixture that works nicely.

Apple is my favourite pie; I have some apples that are past their eating-by date, so I may need to make one.

I do French apple pie with the crumb topping. I also do a really excellent sweet potato pie, using real fresh sweet potatoes, and a very good Key Lime pie with real key limes (or juice), and meringue, not whipped cream.

[Chronos]

Thanksgiving at my gramma’s house always involved at least a dozen of them. Varieties of pie, that is: There were two or three pies each of the more popular varieties. The first rule of pies is that you don’t have enough. No matter how many you already have, you need more.

[Chefguy]

My mother’s “secret” was to use orange juice instead of cold water in the dough mix. Something about the acidity helps with the flakiness, but doesn’t really add orange flavor. The fat is a mixture of butter and shortening. Before it goes into the oven, the crust is brushed with milk and sprinkled with sugar. The real trick, of course, is in how the dough is handled.

[Atomic_Mama]

Thank you, chefguy, for sharing your memories, tips, and that lovely photo. My mother, being Type I diabetic, never got into cooking, much less baking. But my Aunt Annie and Aunt Marge were pie-masters … mincemeat and pumpkin at Thanksgiving mmmmmMMMMMMM.

I can crank out a decent pie – my piano teacher said I should have played organ, because my touch was so delicate – so my scratch crusts are purty darn good.

Naturally, I married a Type II diabetic OF COURSE We make ours with Splenda, and that’s just fine.

Wild Maine blueberries rival those found in Alaska. Ask me – I lived in ANC and Palmer before heading back to the Lower 48. The spouse is Sitka-born and -raised.

Hmmmm. Now I’m reminiscing about Deep South pies: pecan, lemon icebox, peach fried pies … fudge pie, too.

Pie Is Good.

[Tapiotar]

Nice memories and photos, Chefguy, and lovely memory of your sister.
My Aunt Bertha was the master pie maker. She used lard for her wonderful, flakey crust. Her apple pie was good, but her strawberry-rhubarb was the best.
I can’t eat restaurant or store-bought pies at all. Terrible crusts, and the fillings always too sweet and gooey. Pies must be homemade.

[not_what_you_d_expect]

What a lovely memory and what a marvelous way to celebrate her life.

I have never been able to make a good crust. And I love me some apple pie.

[Typo_Negative]

My girlfriend just made her take on my Mother’s savory tomato pie recipe.

Green tomatoes, onions and bacon. My GOD, it’s good.

[Chefguy]

@Tapiotar

Nice memories and photos, Chefguy, and lovely memory of your sister.
My Aunt Bertha was the master pie maker. She used lard for her wonderful, flakey crust. Her apple pie was good, but her strawberry-rhubarb was the best.
I can’t eat restaurant or store-bought pies at all. Terrible crusts, and the fillings always too sweet and gooey. Pies must be homemade.

Boy, I hear that. My father used to stop at every single roadhouse and cafe on any trips we took, looking for pie and coffee. My mother would look at the pie he was eating and invariably pronounce it “not fit to eat”. And she was right: those shiny cardboard crusts and those gluey fillings made with cornstarch were, and still are, god-awful. I’ll usually only order a piece of pie if it’s a cream pie or something like pecan pie, without a top crust. I don’t know whose homes those “home made” pies are coming from, but they probably should be torched.

[GrumpyBunny]

@not_what_you_d_expect

What a lovely memory and what a marvelous way to celebrate her life.

I have never been able to make a good crust. And I love me some apple pie.

I admit to using the Pillsbury premade crust for one-crust pies if I’m in a rush. They also work well on savoury pies. They’re ok. Not as good as a good homemade, but better than some homemade and not terrible.

(Don’t beat me!)

[Digital_is_the_new_Analog]

Nice. I make at least one apple pie per year, for Thanksgiving. Everyone loves it…I’m not a huge fan of the crust, but other people seem to like it. I’m afraid to try to fix it.

[Chefguy]

@Atomic_Mama

Wild Maine blueberries rival those found in Alaska. Ask me – I lived in ANC and Palmer before heading back to the Lower 48. The spouse is Sitka-born and -raised.

I was born in Juneau and remember our blueberry picking trips every year. We all had a coffee can hanging around our necks with a string to put the berries in. My sister continued using that method her whole life. After moving to ANC, we went up to Hatcher Pass every year to pick. I left AK at 20 years old and returned at age 50. We went berry picking every year until we retired and left. There were three places that had the best-tasting berries: Sheep Mountain, out the ACS tower road, and at the camping area on the Paxson side of the old Denali Highway. Good memories, and the pies were outstanding. My mother would also can blueberry jam.

[Johnny_L.A]

I’ve never made pie crust. I was going to before the SO moved in, but she says I should just buy it frozen. She says it’s very easy, but not worth the effort. I’d still like to try, but I just never get to it.

[Mr_Downtown]

My sister learned a little trick from a college roommate that has revolutionized our crusts. I’ll give the whole recipe:

for one crust (double to make two pies):

blend together
2 cups flour
1.5 teaspoon salt
1 cup Crisco/1 Crisco stick

now, the trick. Stir together
3/8 cup flour
3/8 cup water
and add the mixture to above dry ingredients

work just enough that the dough hangs together as a ball, divide in half, and roll out the discs.

[zoid]

@Mr_Downtown

My sister learned a little trick from a college roommate that has revolutionized our crusts. I’ll give the whole recipe:

for one crust (double to make two pies):

blend together
2 cups flour
1.5 teaspoon salt
1 cup Crisco/1 Crisco stick

now, the trick. Stir together
3/8 cup flour
3/8 cup water
and add the mixture to above dry ingredients

work just enough that the dough hangs together as a ball, divide in half, and roll out the discs.

Do you cut the Crisco into the flour cold or do you simply mix it all in a blender?

[gigi]

The key to my mom’s was to cut in Crisco with a pastry blender till pea-sized and then put the dough ball in the fridge. The cold “peas” create the holes for flakiness. She wouldn’t have made the dough and immediately rolled it out.

[Chefguy]

@Mr_Downtown

My sister learned a little trick from a college roommate that has revolutionized our crusts. I’ll give the whole recipe:

for one crust (double to make two pies):

blend together
2 cups flour
1.5 teaspoon salt
1 cup Crisco/1 Crisco stick

now, the trick. Stir together
3/8 cup flour
3/8 cup water
and add the mixture to above dry ingredients

work just enough that the dough hangs together as a ball, divide in half, and roll out the discs.

I don’t understand how the “trick” provides any benefit to the dough. Can you explain?

[Athena]

@Chefguy

Pie has always been as big a deal in my family as gravy.

If that’s not a description of a great family, I don’t know what is.

@Atomic_Mama

Wild Maine blueberries rival those found in Alaska.

@Chefguy

I was born in Juneau and remember our blueberry picking trips every year. We all had a coffee can hanging around our necks with a string to put the berries in.

Michigan wild blueberries are absolutely amazing as well. I have nothing but pity for those people who only know the big, flavorless blueberries they sell in stores. Small, tart, and wild is the way to go. I can’t stand picking them, but I’m lucky enough to live in an area where they show up in the farmer’s market every late July/August, and I can buy and freeze enough to keep me through the winter. I so missed them when I lived in non-blueberry states.

[Chefguy]

@Athena

Small, tart, and wild is the way to go.

I think I dated her.

I can’t stand picking them, but I’m lucky enough to live in an area where they show up in the farmer’s market every late July/August, and I can buy and freeze enough to keep me through the winter. I so missed them when I lived in non-blueberry states.

They grow them in Oregon, as well, but the farms all use domesticated berry bushes that have been bred to produce berry clusters, much like grapes. It’s just more profitable that way. I find them pretty tasteless, so they end up as jam, because the flavor is concentrated. We’ve gone to the Cascades and picked wild berries a couple of times; they’re pretty good. It seems weird to me that people here aren’t all that into picking wild berries, so opportunities abound. It was an annual ritual for us in Alaska, and I would include crowberries and any wild cranberries that we ran across. It’s all good in a pie.