First off, please take a moment to consider donating to The Red Cross fund for Japan. As Ruth Reichl pointed out in responding to a Twitter attack accusing her of being oblivious for tweeting about food not tragedy, as long we we’re mindful of our privilege, food can be very life-affirming.
This custard tart is particularly spirited: it had its origins in a bourbon buttermilk pie I made a while ago from Out of Kentucky Kitchens (1949).
Well, I’m single this Valentine’s Day, but I’m going to a housewarming for a really lovely couple, so I decided to bring something a little romantic: a bouquet in pie form.
I spent far long in one room today reading about obscenity (First Amendment exam Wednesday), so partway through the day I decided to go home and make a pie. Making a pie is a great way to re-take control of your life: there’s even a whole movie about it. This Kentucky cookbook I got out of the library has many, many amazing pie recipes – today my inner sassy Southern belle was particularly won over by a Buttermilk Bourbon Pie (hmm…I wonder what ingredient did that).
Two things sealed the deal: 1) the fact that this book said a 9″ full-butter and -cream pie should yield 6 servings, 2) the really bitchy intro: “This is a Kentucky specialty, but most of the recipes for it used too much flour and buttermilk. Finally I hit upon these proportions and we think the pie delicious.” I know I’ve talked about recipe culture before, and about the phenomenon of incremental improvement: this reminds me how much of that improvement is due to sheer bloody-minded competitiveness.
I used a half recipe of my new go-to Vodka Pie Crust. The filling is suuuuper easy – go on and try it for yourself! If pie intimidates you, this is a good place to start. Just channel some Southern belle resolve!
In other news, I think I’m starting to get better at this photo thing…here we have the whole pristine pie:
And an outtake! (Hopefully not blooper reel…)
Buttermilk Bourbon Pie (Serves 10! Not 6!)
1/2 recipe of your fave pie crust
3 eggs
3/4 c. sugar
3 tbsp. flour
3 tbsp. melted butter
1 1/2 c. buttermilk**
3 tbsp. bourbon
Nutmeg and powdered sugar for dusting
1. Preheat your oven to 450. Roll out your pie crust, place it in a 9″ pan, prick the bottom a few times with a fork, and place in the freezer for about 10 minutes. Bake for 10 minutes, remove, and cool while you make the filling. Reduce the oven temperature to 375 degrees.
2. Beat the eggs with the sugar until fluffy and light yellow (the sugar grains should have dissolved). Add the flour, one tablespoon at a time, stirring a few times between additions.
3. Pour in the buttermilk, bourbon, and butter, beat until blended, and pour into the crust (don’t worry, it’s supposed to be kind of runny – it’s a custard, and will firm up in the oven).
4. Place the pie in the oven and bake about 25-30 minutes. The custard should be firm, but a little jiggly in the middle.
5. Remove from oven, cool, and dust with a mixture of nutmeg and powdered sugar.
**If you don’t have buttermilk or don’t want to buy it, you can make your own: just add 1 tbsp. white vinegar to milk and let it set for 5 minutes and it’ll curdle right up.
And now to the real classics. We’re still using a newfangled vodka pie crust here, but the fillings? Totally old school: apple pie and chess pie. Before we get on to the pies themselves, I think I’d better address some crust questions raised in the comments on Part 2. Namely: can one use liquors other than vodka in a crust?
This brings up some really 21st-century cooking science issues. The reason this crust uses vodka is not to use flavor – quite the opposite, since the alcohol totally cooks off and vodka is pretty flavorless otherwise – but to create texture. Very often when one works a pie crust by hand, the butter starts to soften and glutens form and toughen up the crust. We love gluten formation in bread and flour, but when this occurs in pie-baking we call the crust “overworked.” And not Blue Ribbon-worthy. Alcohol inhibits gluten formation, so vodka adds moisture to the crust while keeping it nice and flaky. Just a warning while we’re on the topic: this dough is a little softer than most when you’re rolling it out, so be very gentle.
Theoretically, any spirit with the same alcohol content as vodka (80 proof, or 40%) should have the same effect. Other alcohols will, however, add different flavors, and higher sugar contents might have interesting outcomes. My grandmother always used orange juice as the liquid for her pie crusts. The flavor doesn’t come through strongly but adds a tiny bit of acid; perhaps a citrus flavored vodka could yield similar results, along with maximum flakiness? Worth a try, for sure!
If this was too much food science you can take a break here before moving on…
Now back to old school pies. I made my apple pie the only way I know how: apples, sugar, lemon, and spices. Tiny bit of flour to absorb a little juice…and go! Over the years, I (along with generations of cooks) have tweaked and experimented with this basic formula. In this particular pie I used brown sugar, to give a little more fall flavor. I also used Granny Smith apples only, since that’s what my dad picked up from the supermarket. Tart, firm Granny Smiths make a great pie, but usually I mix my apples – for example, throwing in a few mealier Macintoshes or Macouns for a bit of sweetness. This one-apple pie, however, came out great. I’ve started thinking over the years that apple pie recipes are actually complete bunk. There is no single great apple pie recipe, since apples themselves are such a huge part of a great pie and they can never really be standardized. The key is to learn to taste for texture, sugar, and acid and work with your apples as you go.
If that’s too much pressure you can start with another classic: chess pie. This pie is from the days when fruit wasn’t shipped around the country on demand – it’s made entirely out of pantry staples. The recipe I tried (out of my Southern Cook Book of course) came out a little weird – the middle didn’t set the way chess pie is supposed to, and it wound up being kind of like butterscotch goo with a bruleed sugar topping. That, however, did not stop it from being the first of the three Friday night pies to be devoured. I think I’ll try it again soon, and perhaps add more eggs to keep things together. The lack of setting might also have been due to the exigencies of Thanksgiving baking – the oven was still hotter than it probably should have been from cooking several pies and pans of root vegetables at close to broiling. I’ll report back on any experiments. In the meantime, here are some pictures and recipes…
Apple pie! I should give a nod to my dad for all these pie pics – his DSLR is responsible for the higher-than-usual quality of the photos on this blog.
All the pies together! (From front: apple, chess, pumpkin) Sadly the tart was already gone and could not join the family photo.
Apple Pie (Makes one 9″ pie)
One recipe Vodka Pie Crust
4 lbs. apples (6-7 medium)
3/4 to 1 c. light brown sugar
1 1/2 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. lemon zest
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. ground cloves
2 tbsp. flour
1 egg, beaten lightly
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Roll one dough disk on a lightly floured surface into a 12-inch circle and place in pie plate.
2. Gently press dough into sides of pan leaving portion that overhangs lip of pie plate in place. Refrigerate while preparing fruit.
3. Peel, core, and cut apples into 1/2-to-3/4-inch slices and toss with sugar, lemon juice, spices and zest. Turn fruit mixture, including juices, into chilled pie shell and mound slightly in center. Roll out other dough round and place over filling. Trim top and bottom edges to 1/2 inch beyond pan lip. Tuck this rim of dough underneath itself so that folded edge is flush with pan lip. Flute edging or press with fork tines to seal. Cut four slits at right angles on dough top. Brush egg onto top of crust.
4. Bake until top crust is golden, about 25 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees; continue baking until juices bubble and crust is deep golden brown, 30 to 35 minutes longer. Transfer pie to wire rack; cool to almost room temperature, at least 4 hours.
Chess Pie (Makes one 9″ pie)
1/2 recipe Vodka Pie Crust
1/2 c. butter, melted
1 1/2 c. sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
pinch salt
1 tbsp. vinegar
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Roll dough disk on a lightly floured surface into a 12-inch circle and place in pie plate.
2. Mix butter and sugar and simmer slowly, stirring, for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool slightly, stirring constantly. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well. Add vanilla, salt and vinegar; mix well.
3. Pour filling into pie shell and bake for 30-35 minutes. Shake pie gently. It is done when the center quivers slightly.
Moving back through the history of pies…we come to the “Test Kitchen Classic” – a pumpkin pie recipe from Cook’s Illustrated. It’s more scientific and thought-out than granny’s pie recipe, but less “Pie Version 2.0” than the concoctions in my Baked cookbook. I should probably note as well that the crust for this recipe (and for the two which will follow shortly) was also from Cook’s Illustrated. Pie is a very curious food: it appears simple, and is often made with few ingredients, yet tiny tweaks to crust and filling can take a simply “good” pie to a whole new Blue Ribbon level.
Vodka Crust (Makes top and bottom crusts for a 9″ pie)
2 1/2 cups (12 1/2 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon table salt
2 tablespoons sugar
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch slices
1/2 cup cold vegetable shortening, cut into 4 pieces
1/4 cup cold vodka
1/4 cup cold water
1. Process 1 1/2 cups flour, salt, and sugar in food processor until combined, about 2 one-second pulses. Add butter and shortening and process until homogeneous dough just starts to collect in uneven clumps, about 15 seconds (dough will resemble cottage cheese curds and there should be no uncoated flour). Scrape bowl with rubber spatula and redistribute dough evenly around processor blade. Add remaining cup flour and pulse until mixture is evenly distributed around bowl and mass of dough has been broken up, 4 to 6 quick pulses. Empty mixture into medium bowl.
2. Sprinkle vodka and water over mixture. With rubber spatula, use folding motion to mix, pressing down on dough until dough is slightly tacky and sticks together. Divide dough into two even balls and flatten each into 4-inch disk. Wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 45 minutes or up to 2 days.
Pumpkin Pie
Spicy Pumpkin Pie Filling:
2 cups (16 ounces) plain pumpkin puree, canned or fresh
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
½ teaspoon salt
2/3 cup heavy cream
2/3 cup milk
4 large eggs
Brandied Whipped Cream:
1 1/3 cups heavy cream, cold
3 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
1 tablespoon brandy
1. Place a rolled-out crust in a pie pan and refrigerate for 20 minutes (or freeze for 5 minutes) to firm dough shell. Using a table fork, prick bottom and sides — including where they meet — at 1/2-inch intervals. Flatten a 12-inch square of aluminum foil inside shell, pressing it flush against corners, sides, and over rim. Prick foil bottom in about a dozen places with a fork. Chill shell for at least 30 minutes (preferably an hour or more), to allow dough to relax.
2. Adjust an oven rack to lowest position, and heat oven to 400 degrees. (Start preparing filling when you put shell into oven.) Bake 15 minutes, pressing down on foil with mitt-protected hands to flatten any puffs. Remove foil and bake shell for 8 to 10 minutes longer, or until interior just begins to color.
3. For filling, blend the first 7 ingredients in a 3-quart heavy-bottomed saucepan; bring the mixture to a sputtering simmer over medium-high heat. Cook pumpkin, stirring constantly, until thick and shiny, about 5 minutes. As soon as pie shell comes out of oven, whisk heavy cream and milk into pumpkin and bring to a bare simmer. Process eggs in food processor until whites and yolks are mixed, about 5 seconds. With motor running, slowly pour about half of hot pumpkin mixture through feed tube. Stop machine and scrape in remaining pumpkin. Process 30 seconds longer.
4. Immediately pour warm filling into hot pie shell. (Ladle any excess filling into pie after it has baked for 5 minutes or so — by this time filling will have settled.) Bake until filling is puffed, dry-looking, and lightly cracked around edges, and center wiggles like gelatin when pie is gently shaken, about 25 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for at least 1 hour.
For Brandied Whipped Cream (optional):
Beat cream at medium speed to soft peaks; gradually add confectioners’ sugar then brandy. Beat to stiff peaks. Accompany each wedge of pie with a dollop of whipped cream.
