Maggie's Farm

We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.

Our Recent Essays Behind the Front Page

Much Sorry with Delays
Birth, Death and All That Stuff in Between
How to Honor Labor Day, Every Day
My Yom Kippur Miracle (Repost from 2010)
Good intro to fly casting
Peach update, with pie
NYC update
Easy for you to say: To the elites on mass immigration
For NYC on 9/11, Sailors' Snug Harbor
Pickled Peaches
Water Shoes
Labor Costs in U.S.
Your "identity"
Good news about The Great Courses
Uses of Hot Pepper Jelly/Sauce, Chutneys, and Jams
A Saturday Drive to Litchfield County, CT
How to Pick a Kayak
Civilized: Fruit forks and knives
Loads of kayaking on Cape Cod
Psychology Experiments' Questionable Results

Categories


All categories

Quicksearch

Links

Blog Administration

Open login screen

RSS Readers

Add to Google

Subscribe with Bloglines

Wednesday, November 12. 2014

Apple Pie?

I post enough recipes that I like, and that I like to make. It's your turn for the most American of foods.


What are your favorite Apple Pie recipes? Got any tips?


A pal of mine likes to sprinkle sugar over the top crust partway through the baking. He uses supermarket crusts, but it works very well.


(I actually like Tarte Tatin better, but have trouble caramelizing the bottom - which becomes the top.)


Our Maggie's Farm chef, in photo, will test each one of them for us.

Posted by Bird Dog in Food and Drink, Our Essays at 16:49 | Comments (36) | Trackbacks (3)

Trackbacks
Trackback specific URI for this entry

PingBack
Weblog: www.thepiratescove.us
Tracked: Oct 20, 10:05
PingBack
Weblog: www.thepiratescove.us
Tracked: Oct 20, 10:11
PingBack
Weblog: www.thepiratescove.us
Tracked: Oct 20, 19:48

Comments
Display comments as (Linear | Threaded)

--nice practical dress for working in that hot kitchen, if i may offer an opinion.
#1 buddy larsen on 2010-10-13 11:48 (Reply)
I have baked apple pie 4 times in my life. Each time was a great experience, and the pies were excellent.

I used Crisco, and used the recipe on the can. Then I wrote them a thank you letter, explaining just how good the pies were.

I received about $50 in coupons and a recipe book.

Since then, I've always written to companies letting them know how good their products are. Some are good (Crisco, for example), others are not (Dannon didn't reply at all).

Don Novello wrote a book about doing this years ago, using the name Lazlo Toth (which I believe he stole from the fellow who smashed La Pieta).
#2 Rick on 2010-10-13 11:57 (Reply)
Couldn't she just come to my house and cook her pie? Maybe not, Mrs. Mudbug would not be amused!
#3 mudbug on 2010-10-13 12:12 (Reply)
Poor girl would freeze to death in one of our Yankee camp kitchens...but am sure one of you chivalrous fellows would offer her your sweater or something warming.

I make my piecrust w unsalted butter and King Arthur flour the day before then let it rest. Nor just use the cheapest supermarket brand (depends on time)
the best pie we make is withe the wizened tiny apples so small they're almost crabapples that grow wild near our place up north. very labor intensive, four to each one large supermarket apple cutting out the bad bits. But best flavor in the world. and don't make a lot of extra juice. Tangy and tasty and spicy. Ni add knobs of butter and brown sugar on the crust and melt them for five minutes in oven before adding filling.

I don't peel them, but do core them. Use the equivalent of aix or seven big regular apeples so pie is piled high. Mix the apples up with a couple of TBS chopped butter, and 1/2 cup brown sugar, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, plus 1/2 cup Maple Syrup (more if you love it). A light dash of salt. Then put crust on and prick a design on top for steam to escape and crimp the sides with a fork.
#4 Retriever on 2010-10-13 12:34 (Reply)
First, it's not a good idea to bake with all your hair hanging down unless you want to find hair in your apple pie. Second, that woman is too skinny. She looks anorexic.

I make apple pie simply -- make the crust with butter, use Rome Beauty apples, maybe use 1/4 brown sugar/3/4 white (not too much sugar, generally) and a bit of cinnamon. No need to fuss it up, especialy if you eat it mainly for breakfast. which I do.
#5 D on 2010-10-13 12:37 (Reply)
Always add a pear into the mix with the apples. Adds to the flavor and sweetness.
#6 DrTorch on 2010-10-13 12:48 (Reply)
FWIW, some suggest saute-ing ing the apples first so that you don't get so much volume reduction in the fruit during baking. I have tried this -- the result is fine but not really worth the trouble, in my opinion.
#7 D on 2010-10-13 13:40 (Reply)
I remember pie crust made with lard. It was super flaky and crisp, but nowdays we use butter. I've never bought a can of Crisco in my life.
#8 pbird on 2010-10-13 14:05 (Reply)
English cooking apples(bramley) and quince make a good job of it.
#9 Thud (Link) on 2010-10-13 15:10 (Reply)
PAPER BAG APPLE PIE

Makes one 9.5" pie. [Scale recipe by a factor of 1.5 to make two 9" pies.]

Filling:

6-8 large Granny Smith or similar baking apples, ?4 lbs. (Half tart GS and half sweet Pippin make an excellent pie!)
1 tablespoon lemon juice (to prevent discoloration)
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 9.5" pie shell, unbaked

Topping:

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup (1 stick) margarine or butter

# Pare, core and slice apples. Place in large mixing bowl and coat with lemon juice.
# Combine dry ingredients for filling in small bowl and mix well. Pour over apples and toss to coat well.
# Place apples in pie shell (mound slightly in center to counter later shrinkage).
# Combine dry ingredients for topping in mixing bowl and mix well. Cut in margerine or butter until mealy, and spread evenly over apples to cover pie.
# Slide pie into brown paper grocery bag. Close open end, fold over and fasten with paper clips or staples. Place bagged pie on cookie sheet and slide into preheated oven.
NOTE: TO PREVENT FIRE, MAKE SURE BAG DOES NOT TOUCH SIDES OR BACK OF OVEN!
# Bake in hot oven (425F) for 1 hour, until apples are tender and topping is bubbly and golden.
# Split bag open and remove pie to wire rack to cool.


PIE CRUST

Makes enough for six 9" pie shells (or three 9.5" shells with top crusts).
6 cups sifted flour
3 teaspoons salt
2 cups shortening
12 tablespoons (3/4 cup) cold water

# Sift flour and salt into large mixing bowl.
# With pastry cutter, cut in first half of shortening until mealy.
# Cut in remaining half of shortening coarsely.
# Sprinkle with water (using fork) 1 tablespoon at a time until all flour is moist.
# Gather with fingers into a mass and divide into equal portions by weight.

BAKED PIE SHELL

# Roll out portion of dough prepared as above on a floured pastry cloth.
# Transfer rolled pastry to 9" pie dish and crimp rim (a warm pie dish and moistened rim help prevent shrinkage).
# Prick shell with fork and bake in a preheated hot oven (475F) for 8 minutes.
# If pastry puffs up or develops bubbles, prick with fork to deflate.
#10 Chris Aarneson on 2010-10-13 16:14 (Reply)
You beat me to it - this is an excellent recipe that I received years ago from a friend in North Carolina. One variation I have used is to add 1/2 cup chopped walnuts to the topping. Yum!
#10.1 tnxplant on 2013-10-19 15:52 (Reply)
Northern Spy is the variety old Vermont Yankee cooks prefer. Don't find them much anymore but worth the effort if you can track them down. A Cranapple pie makes for a nice sweet/tart treat.
#11 greenmtnpunter on 2010-10-13 18:08 (Reply)
There's an apple pie in that picture? Where?
#12 clifford on 2010-10-13 18:22 (Reply)
I am a little confused--should I jump in here?

If so I need a little wider apron--although, I dunno-- the backside isn't much worse than this one!
#13 apple pie on 2010-10-13 19:15 (Reply)
Thanks Chris Aarneson! I am going to try your recipe this weekend. I owe my neighbor a couple of pies for a truckload of dirt he gave me to build a new veggie garden.
#14 dianainsa on 2010-10-13 20:51 (Reply)
Regretfully, I had to fire that lady, her pie too sweet. True, it was genetic, it seems, as she had no choice but her destiny. Though tart she looked, too sweet she was. Now my tooth aches, alone, alas.
#15 Mike3/9 on 2010-10-14 00:15 (Reply)
My best apple pie tip is this. Many recipes use flour or corn starch to dry the pie by soaking up apple juice. Instead of either, use "date sugar." It soaks up more juice and lends a slight flavor to the pie as well. ("Date sugar" is powdered, dry dates. The place I buy from sells both "date crystals" and "date sugar," but either will work in a pie.) Date sugar is about 1/3 to 1/2 as sweet as granulated sugar. My normal apple pie recipe calls for 1 cup of sugar, for which I substitute 1 cup date crystals and 1/2 cup sugar.
#16 tehag on 2010-10-14 08:44 (Reply)
more tips:
- add raisins to the filling, presoaked in dark rum.
- add some vanilla (I use some vanilla flavoured sugar instead of some of the regular sugar).
- for extra bite, don't precook the apples, and make larger slices rather than small cubes (but I make open topped pies, so the juices that evaporate can escape rather than soaking the crust).
- use lots and lots of cinamon and lemon juice :)
#17 J.T. Wenting on 2010-10-14 11:54 (Reply)
Thanks, y'all.
We'll get her to work in the kitchen right away.
#18 Bird Dog on 2010-10-14 12:47 (Reply)
Caramelizing that bottom would be a sin.
#19 Rob De Witt on 2010-10-18 03:04 (Reply)
I think the whole thing looks superb....
#20 Tim (Link) on 2010-10-24 16:56 (Reply)
If you have an apple and a bonfire:
core the apple
add whatever sweets you have to the core hole
wrap it it in whatever dough you have
put it on or near the coals
when it's done enough, eat it.

Sometimes outdoors, anything is wonderful.

Tom Carter
#21 Leatherneck on 2013-10-19 16:32 (Reply)
Geez Louise. Now I have to put on some music and bake!

Last 15 minutes, add some chopped peCANS tossed in a bit of butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg on the crust. Just sayin'. Homemade vanilla ice cream doesn't hurt.
#22 jma on 2013-10-19 17:55 (Reply)
The photo. The woman. I have completely forgotten about pie. Amazing lass. she can cook in my kitchen anytime she wants.
#23 Jefersonian on 2013-10-19 18:01 (Reply)
OK. To be serious here. As the apple pie deserves. My grandma. God bless her soul, made the best aple pie in the world. The secret was not in the apples, as any pie apple would do, but in the crust, which should only be made with lard and only lard, as wonderful as crisco is, it will never make a crust as brown and crisp,m and tasty as lard will make.
#24 Jeffersonian on 2013-10-19 18:07 (Reply)
PHOTOSHOP!!

That's Mary-Louise Parker's (Nancy Botwin character on Weeds) face, but not her body. She'd not pose for such a tarty picture!
#25 Erasmu on 2013-10-19 18:44 (Reply)
Sorry. It is she.
http://www.esquire.com/women/women-we-love/mary-louise-parker-naked-0809
#25.1 BlogDog on 2014-11-12 23:34 (Reply)
Your chef looks like she is fixing to do things to you you will have to look up in the Urban Dictionary later...
#26 B Moe on 2013-10-19 20:05 (Reply)
I have an apron like that, but I got it 43 years ago and the dang thing shrank. Good thing I know how to bake an apple pie.
#27 DHH on 2013-10-19 20:12 (Reply)
God, I love that photo. It has everything I like in it.
#28 vanderleun on 2013-10-19 22:21 (Reply)
Bacon crumble topped:

http://www.rachaelraymag.com/recipes/rachael-ray-magazine-recipe-search/dessert-recipes/bacon-crumble-apple-pie
#29 SmartDogs on 2014-11-12 18:06 (Reply)
Like Gerard, I love that photo.
#30 Mike (Link) on 2014-11-12 22:14 (Reply)
I would choose pecan, mincemeat, or pumpkin over apple pie every time, but if it's the only choice then it must have cheddar cheese melted on top.
#31 Jack Walter on 2014-11-12 23:08 (Reply)
I know what I want for dessert! ;-D
#32 jdgalt on 2014-11-12 23:35 (Reply)
My favorite is mincemeat with a slab of sharp, sharp cheddar cheese on top.
#33 arcs on 2014-11-13 13:41 (Reply)
I think the top of the pie and the bottom of the woman need more filling.
#34 JMU on 2014-11-13 22:00 (Reply)

Add Comment
(Your e-mail will not show in your comment)

By commenting on this site you agree to the site rules listed here. Email
addresses will not be displayed and will only be used for email notifications.

Quick reference guide: [i] italics [/i], [b] bold [/b], [u] underline [/u],
[url] (web address) [/url]. More tips here.

Enclosing asterisks marks text as bold (*word*), underscore are made via _word_.
E-Mail addresses will not be displayed and will only be used for E-Mail notifications.

To prevent automated Bots from commentspamming, please enter the string you see in the image below in the appropriate input box. Your comment will only be submitted if the strings match. Please ensure that your browser supports and accepts cookies, or your comment cannot be verified correctly.
CAPTCHA

BBCode format allowed
 
 
A Chris Southern Consulting website.