Pie

“ Not merely the old traditional mince pie, but a thousand strictly American seedlings from that main stock, evinced the power of American housewives to adapt old institutions to new uses. Pumpkin pies, cranberry pies, huckleberry pies, cherry pies, green-currant pies, peach, pear, and plum pies, custard pies, apple pies, Marlborough-pudding pies—pies with top crusts and pies without—pies adorned with all sorts of fanciful flutings and architectural strips laid across and around, and otherwise varied, attested the boundless fertility of the feminine mind when once let loose in a given direction. ”

“ To judge rightly of any kind of dish you must bring an appetite to it. Here is the famous Dickens pie, when first served, pronounced inimitable, not by a class or a clique, but by all men in all lands. But you get it served hot, and you get it served cold, it is rehashed in every literary restaurant, you detect its flavour in your morning leader and your weekly review. The pie gravy finds its way into the prose and the verse of a whole young generation. It has a striking flavour, an individual flavour, It gets into everything. ”

“ There was an elegant ingenuity displayed in the form of pies which delighted my heart. Once acknowledge that an American pie is far to be preferred to its humble ancestor, the English tart, and it is joyful to be reassured at a Bowden reunion that invention has not yet failed. ”

“ The pie went into the gutter, where the dish was smashed to pieces, and the paste, sugar, and apples mingled with the dirty water. At first I could not see, owing to the quantity of muddy water that had splashed up into my face; but, having cleared my eyes, I saw an old match-woman cramming the pie-crust into her basket, a crowd of ragged children were fishing the apples out of the gutter, and a number of men and women, who ought to have known better, were laughing at me. ”

“ This pie is good hot, but in England is always eaten cold, and cold she knew Mrs. Welles would prefer it. The great thing to be desired in these cold pies is plenty of savory jelly in between the meat, and very light crust. [210]
While the pie was baking, Molly had set the pastry back on the ice, while she made the filling for some cheese cakes. ”

“ The eye-catching look of a handsome pie comes in large part from its pastry rim. Clever fingers can fashion an endless variety of attractive edges. The tines of a fork, a pointed knife, or an inverted teaspoon tip can be used with good effect, too. ”

“ Almost anything under the sun may be put into a pie, and no one be the wiser, for the crust puts on a brave face and hides the poverty (should there be poverty) underneath. No end of stories have been told of pies. A person in a sarcastic mood has been known to send a neighbour a pie with a halter in it; but the piskies did something better than that, and sent the barren wife of the Earl of Cornwall a pie which, when opened, was filled with sweet herbs and wild flowers, in the midst of which a little heir lay smiling. ”

“ The Roman wedding-cake was a simple mixture of sweet wine and flour; and the savilum pie, made of flour, cheese, honey, and eggs, was a dish to make all sorts of guests jubilant. It was, in short, the national pie; and if there were a dish that was more popular, it was the artocreas, a huge mince-pie, and the imperial pie of Verus, compounded of sow’s flank, pheasant, peacock, [Pg 215] ham, and wild boar, all hashed together, and covered with crust. If Emperors invented pies, so did philosophers create cakes ”

“ Each family found on the tables a pie, big enough for all in the house. It was made in the shape of a manger, or feed-trough, for cattle; that is, a square, or oblong, with four corners. Its rich crust was slightly brown, from the baking, and it looked very tempting. ”

“ Several windows were fitted with rows of wooden shelves, rising tier on tier like circus seats, and by the third day of the contest these were occupied by hundreds of pies—pies with meringue and pies without, pies of rich golden yellow, and pies of soggy dark brown, large pies and small pies, crusts that looked ready to melt with flaky richness, and crusts of rubber-like tenacity. ”

“ When the pie is quite full, the lid is put on, and wet round the edge to make it adhere to the top of the walls, on which it is laid, the two being pinched together, in order to unite them more thoroughly. ”

“ Dear me, on a wet day, after lesson-time, those boys were like so many crazy creatures. ‘Cook, I must make a pie,’ says one. ‘There’s a pie in the oven already, Master James,’ says I. ‘I don’t care about the pie in the oven,’ says he, ‘I want a pie of my own. Bring me the flour, and the water, and the butter, and all the things—and, above all, the rolling-pin—and clear the decks, will you, I say, for my pie. Here goes!’ And here used to go, my dears, for Master James had no sense, as I told you ”

“ There’s the easy, quick Spry “Water-Whip” method that takes all the guesswork out of piecrust even for beginners. There’s an improved standard pastry recipe. There are dozens of hints for rolling, decorating—even freezing—pies. Once you’ve tried these easy, simple methods, you’ll feel like making pies and tarts much more often, I know. And one member of your family is going to be especially happy—nearly every man loves pie! ”

“ Coffin secretary. Then the doctor conducted a question box. Some of the questions asked and written on slips of paper, with the name of the man who was to answer, were very serious; others were humorous.
By the way, I must record a new pie which has fallen to the lot of the Penelope Camp. C. C. makes dozens of pie. We have pie every meal and between meals, and if a fellow gets hungry in the night when the rest are snoring, there is pie for his satisfaction. ”

“ Canned peaches filled into such a crust make a delicious pie. Strawberries, cherries, gooseberries, and other juicy fruits, that lose so much of their flavor in baking, may be lightly scalded, the juice thickened a little with flour if desired, sweetened to taste, and filled into such a crust. An excellent pie may be made in this manner from apples, stewed carefully so as to keep the slices whole, sweetened to taste, and flavored with lemon, orange, or grated pineapple. One pineapple will be sufficient for four pies. Fresh fruit for filling may be used without cooking, if desired. ”

“ Now my cook can manage the bread and vegetables, and you, my dears, must furnish the pumpkin-pies or I'm a forsworn woman: I've calculated and re-calculated, and I find that, allowing five pieces to a pie, it will take a hundred and six pies to give everybody plenty--you know how men eat! ”

“ A pretty top lends distinction to any pie, be it plain or fancy. A sparkling glaze gives a touch of elegance to a two-crust fruit pie.... To make a glazed top, brush the unbaked pie with slightly beaten egg white and sprinkle with sugar, then bake.... For an extra-brown crust, brush the top crust before baking with milk or light cream, then sprinkle with sugar.
Lattice and Open Tops
Lattice-top fruit pies with colorful juices bubbling up through golden strips of pastry are always a favorite.... ”

“ PIE SAUCE. Mix some gravy with an anchovy, a sprig of sweet herbs, an onion, and a little mushroom liquor. Boil and thicken it with butter rolled in flour, add a little red wine, and pour the sauce into the pie. This serves for mutton, lamb, veal, or beef pies, when such an addition is required.
PIES AND TARTS. Attention should be paid to the heat of the oven for all kinds of pies and tarts. Light paste should be put into a moderate oven: if too hot the crust will not rise, but burn: if too slack, the paste will be heavy, and not of a good colour. ”

“ An “umble-pie,” made of the inner parts of a deer or other animal, was once a favourite dish. “Printers' pie,” i.e. a mass of confused type, is a transferred sense of “pie,” the dish, or of “pie,” the ordinal, from the difficulty of decipherment. ”

“ You see, if there is anything I would rather do than anything else it is to leave the table early before anybody thinks about starting to do the dishes, and take my three-cornered, one-sixth of an apple pie, and go out our east screen door with the pie in one hand and my straw hat in the other, swing out to our grape arbor, step up on a strong, wooden box, which is always there, reach up and lay the pie on top of the two-by-four crossbeam at the east end of the arbor where there isn’t any vine growing. ”

“ We still lingered in the pie-crypt after this diverting recital, while Miss Octavia entertained me with her views on pies.
"The soul-color of pies varies greatly, Mr. Ames. It has always seemed to me that apple-pie stands for the homelier virtues of our civilization; it is substantial, nutritious and filling. ”

“ Even in the best hotels and restaurants of London there is no sign of pie on the bill of fare, and the French cooks, who can make old hash taste like choice bits of fresh meat or better, have not learned the science of constructing pie, mince, apple, pumpkin, cherry or any kind of pie. I do not know how they do it, but the railroad restaurants are run without pie. Even the crowned heads go through life without knowing the taste of pumpkin pie, and one of my ideas of royalty in my early days was that a king or prince could have custard pie with flaky brown crust three times a day. ”

“ Mix the sugar, flour and salt for each pie in a bowl by itself. When the bottom crust is on the pan, spread about half the sugar mixture over it, put in a generous quantity of apples so that when baked the pie will be level, not depressed, and sprinkle the remainder of the mixture over, taking pains to have a little more at the edges because of not having any underneath there. It is very disappointing to find the last mouthfuls of pie near the crust less sweet than the first from the center. ”

“ There be eleven pilgrims seated at this board on which is set a warden pie and a venison pasty, each of which may truly be divided into four parts and no more. Now, mark ye, five out of the eleven pilgrims can eat the pie, but will not touch the pasty, while four [Pg 37] will eat the pasty but turn away from the pie. ”

“ I was nearly going away without the pie, but I was tempted to mount upon a shelf, to look what it was that was put away so carefully in a covered earthenware dish in a corner, and I found it was the pie, and I took it, in the hope that it was not intended for early use, and would not be missed for some time. ”

“ To weak-winged wanderers? Wait for me now.
Rudyard Kipling. A MELTON MOWBRAY PORK-PIE
STRANGE pie that is almost a passion,
O passion immoral for pie!
Unknown are the ways that they fashion,
Unknown and unseen of the eye.
The pie that is marbled and mottled,
The pie that digests with a sigh:
For all is not Bass that is bottled,
And all is not pork that is pie.
Richard Le Gallienne. FOAM AND FANGS
O NYMPH with the nicest of noses ”

“ You can hear the words of the chanting clearly now. They are: Anybody want to buy, Any sort of baker's pie? Pies! Pies! Pies! Pies! Snow White. Oh, a baker-man selling pies. Really, people do have the most curious ideas about this forest. ”

“ The number of apple, pear, goosberry, plum, pie, and ice-cream stands that line the path are almost incalculable to think of. Pies square, round, and triangular of shape, in all the varied stages of decay, are for sale at a penny a piece. Tarts, cheese cakes, mutton pot-pies, ham pies, suet puddings, whelks, a sort of odorous shell-fish, at half-penny apiece, green gages, and "sandviches" are shouted on every side of us. ”

“ Use Greening apples if you can get them. These are table apples. They are not so good for pies for two or three reasons. They will not keep their form when they are baked in the pie, and they may not be perfectly tender. These will break and grow very soft as soon as they begin to cook.
[41]
I might, while I am making our pie, say a little about flour in general use in the family. As a rule I use what is called pastry flour, best for pie crusts. Pastry flour has more starch in it than ordinary family flour, or bread flour. The starch is the interior of the grain. ”

“ Be sure all the flour is mixed with the Spry. This step insures tenderness in the pastry.
Cut in remaining Spry to size of large peas. In baking, these pieces melt into little “pools” of fat, forming leafy flakes. This step insures flakiness in the pastry.
Sprinkle water over mixture; mix thoroughly with fork until all particles cling together. Take up in hands. Work into a smooth, well-blended ball of dough.
17 Expert Tricks FOR PERFECT PIES
Many secrets of pie success lie in the “know-how”—in the techniques and practices that are part of a pie-maker’s skill. ”

“ When soft, sweeten and season them to the taste. When apples are ripe, they make better pies not to be stewed before baking. [82] Fill your pie plates, cover them with a thick crust, and bake them from half to three-quarters of an hour. When baked sufficiently, cut the upper crust through the centre, remove it carefully with a broad knife, put a piece of butter, of the size of a walnut, into a pie, sweeten it to your taste, and if the apples are not tart enough, squeeze in the juice of part of a lemon—flavor the pie with either nutmeg, rosewater, or grated lemon peel. ”

“ Put a strip of paste around the edge of a shallow pudding dish or deep pie pan, fill dish with prepared fruit, sugar and flour, cover with a lid of paste, press on to the strip and bake.
Fillings of squash, pumpkin or sweet potato pies may be baked on pie pans, in custard cups or in pudding dishes, without a crust, and with or without a meringue.
Serve fruit pies the day they are baked. Those that are unavoidably left over, put into the oven and just heat through before serving, to make like fresh pies. ”