A New Topic -– Pie

Alright I confess. This post has nothing whatever to do with the novel. As for the “more-or-less-connected-with-the-work-in-progress” standard that I promised for blog posts, this one is in the "less-connected" category. So much for my rules.

Not long ago my friend and fellow Hoosier Larry McCoy taught me how to bake a pie. That is, he mailed me an old Indiana recipe for apple pie including a great recipe for the crust. As every pie lover knows, the crust is the hardest part to get right. It must be difficult, because so few people get it right. I love to cook, but baking is outside my competence and as a long-time lover of pie I consider that a great pity.

As you’ve no doubt concluded by now if you’re still reading, I tried Larry’s recipe and it worked beautifully. It worked so well I made several more pies with other fillings.  

This started last fall, so I did a harvest pie with apple, walnuts and cranberries (Scrumptious!), a pumpkin pie, a pecan pie, several more with apple, and when spring came I made a blueberry pie and one of peach. Sometimes I had a little trouble keeping the crust together enough to get it into the pan unbroken, so I tried adding a tablespoon of ice-cold water. That seemed to work. Now I’m working on perfecting the fillings.

If I'm only reinventing the wheel here, old pie-baking hands, speak up. I’d be happy for your suggestions.

For a friend’s birthday recently I used a simple Eastern Shore recipe to make a cherry filling. The result looked so good that I took this picture, and my friend pronounced the pie good. I think he also said terrific and maybe something else. I believe he meant it because his e-mail ended this way:

“And more pie, always more pie...”

Thanks to him and thanks to Larry.