Pie of the Month: July
June was a tough pie of the month month. There was the key lime disaster, then the nightmares, and the good looking but bad tasting shoofly pie. One might think that would get me down, and it would keep me out of the kitchen. One would be wrong.
I forgot to return the Joy of Cooking: All about pies book to the library, and because I have the week off this week, I was doing the grocery shopping. So before I went to the store, I thumbed through the book and decided on a tasty looking pecan pie. I have been hesitant to even try making a pecan pie, primarily because I like pecan pie, and I don't want to badly screw it up. But then I thought, "what would Roland Mesnier do?" Then I was like, "Roland Mesnier wouldn't have disgraced the name of key lime pie the way I did." Then I was right back to square one.
But then when I looked at the ingredients list, I realized that I had all of them except pecans. It doesn't get any easier than that. So I went for it.
The first steps were to preheat the oven, coarsely chop the pecans, then put them in the oven for 6-10 minutes until lightly toasted. I set the timer for 7 minutes. 7 minutes later, I discovered that I had burned all of the coarsely chopped pecans. The next steps involved lightly glazing the crust with egg yolk, then putting it in the oven until hot to the touch. That might be the most ridiculous thing I've ever read. How long does something sit in 375 degrees (F) before it gets hot to the touch? Well, apparently less than 3 minutes. Because that's how long I put it in for, and I damn near burned my hand while determining that it was, in fact, hot to the touch. During that fiasco, I slightly damaged the crust (as seen in the full-pie photo from below).
I did eventually get my act together, and I got the pie in the oven. And while the crust might be a little extra brown, the pie ended up looking pretty good (I think there was too much filling - AGAIN - because when the crust looked properly cooked at 35 minutes, the pie filling was still pretty watery-looking).
Overall, I'd say that this trails only my pumpkin pie in taste (as compared to expected taste), and is as good looking as any of the pies I've previously assembled. If I had any smarts, I'd enclose this pie in an air-tight display case, tour the country with it so that people can see what a good looking pie it is, then retire from pie making all together. This is probably as good as it's going to get, so why continue?
Lucky for you, internet, I ain't got no smarts.
Comments
Nadia said:
I think you should start baking buns. Then you get to type the phrase, "I did eventually get my act together, and I got the bun in the oven."
Instant manliness.
X said:
"And I damn near burned my hand determining that the buns were, in fact, hot to the touch."
---X
Sarah said:
"If I had any smarts, I'd enclose these buns in an air-tight display case, tour the country with them so that people can see what good looking buns they are..."
elasticwaistbandlady said:
A Yankee making a Southerner confection? A travesty, I tell you!
I have a recipe that I use where you toast the pecans in a little bit of butter first. Toasty and delicious!
Lianne said:
I love pecan pie, but I have never made it. I believe I have mentioned before that I am missing the "pie gene" therefore I don't really mess around. In fact, I don't really bake much at all. I'm more a "cooking" kinda gal, like Rachael Ray, although, praise God, I am not like Rachael Ray.
Anyway, I think your pie looks good. so break out the vanilla ice cream and have at it.
Glo said:
It's a pretty good pie, I'll give you that...but I really think you can do better. I'll happily volunteer for the "perfection" taste test.
Jon said:
You know, the more you get into this, the more I realize that I have extremely limited pie experience. To date, these are the pies I have eaten:
Key Lime (personal favorite, even though it ravages my digestive system)
Pumpkin (I was born on Halloween…)
Apple (I’m American)
Lemon Meringue (was my favorite prior to my discovery of Key Lime, which happened some time in the mid 90’s)
That’s it. 4 pies. 28+ years, and only 4 different pies. And I often go months without having a single slice of any kind of pie… Thanksgiving is pretty much the only time I can say there’s a 75% chance that I’ll have some Pumpkin pie… I’m starting to see why my application for The Pie Lovers of America was denied…
Katie said:
Yay! Omar doesn't have smarts!
Cate said:
Oh, man. The picture with the whipped cream is making me SO hungry.
elasticwaistbandlady said:
So, now that you're a conoisseur of pecan pies, have you taken to pronouncing them PEE-KAN? Now that you've gone all faux Southern, can we expect your next offering to be an old fashioned sweet tater pie?
cadiz12 said:
mmmm, i love pecan pie.
i think you'd be more like ole boy roland if you got yourself a fancy hat like his. or even just a snazzy apron. what's your apron look like?
the pie baker said:
The pie looks good! Why not try boysenberry soon? Yummm. (Maybe try some foil around the edges for part of the baking to keep the crust from over-browning, unless you have those old-fashioned edge guards handy. Foil's easy and works for me every time, though.)
I said:
Elastic, there was a big war 140-something years ago that resulted in us being part of the SAME country. Besides, that's like me saying you're a yankee for eating cheesecake. Have you eaten cheesecake? If so, I'm telling all your neighbors you're not only a yankee, but that you love Oklahoma.
Becky
said:
i'm gonna send you my crust recipe so you can try it for august. super easy, super delicious, and adds to pie pride when finished.
good job on the pecan. it looks exactly like a pecan pie should.
Syar said:
looks like a damn good pie. I read your comment to elastic, got all excited about the prospect of cheese cake, commented a bit and belatedly realized that cheesecake is not in fact, a pie.
what is your stance on cake omar?
elasticwaistbandlady said:
Hey, I'm a traiterous Infidel that straddles both sides of the dessert aisle. I was born a Yankee and ended up a naturalized Texan, thus making me a pie dignitary. I'm also entitled to eat all offerings of regional pie specialties that come my way.
North, South, it's all mmmmmmmmmmmm GOOD!
Gia said:
Pie. Mmmmmm. You just reminded me of the raspberry pie that is in my fridge (that I did not make - I can't make pie AT ALL, my hat is off to you, sir!)
Breakfast of champions! I'll probably sit on it.