Fruit pies are ruined by over-thickening. It’s such a shame to disrespect the fruit with a bunch of goo. Soggy bottom crusts are a waste of space. I’ve had an apple pie with a crisp bottom crust a few times in my life; cherry, peach, or berry pies, never. A cherry/peach/berry pie where the slices have structural integrity cannot taste good. Instead, make an upside-down or deep-dish pie with top crust only. Make the top crust thick and crunchy, let that juice run, and scoop the whole business over ice cream!
All cream pies and their relatives (key lime, meringue, silk, etc.) need a crumb crust. Graham cracker, gingersnap, vanilla wafer, and chocolate crumbs all have their place. If you’ve never tried putting a pumpkin pie into a crumb crust, you’re missing out.
Pecan pies have to be filled with PECANS with enough custard to hold them together. A sugar pie with a layer of pecans floating on top is not a pecan pie.
Some less common pies: Chess, Black Bottom, Walnut-cashew (or other nuts besides pecan).
My favorite family pie story goes like this…
Lemon meringue pie was a family favorite when I was growing up, but my little brother hated the meringue and used to scrape it off and leave it on his plate. One afternoon while we were all busy, our cat crept up on the counter and ate the meringue off the last slice of pie. Licked it perfectly clean down to the yellow lemon part, and we didn’t catch her until the very last lick.
The trash was full, so my mother set the cat-licked slice on the counter next to the trash can, intending to empty the trash, then deal with the pie. Something distracted Mom and in walked my brother who discovered that, lo and behold, the perfect piece of meringue-less lemon pie was sitting on the counter as if it had been left there just for him.
He was finishing up the last few crumbs when Mom came back to the kitchen. Since there were siblings involved, cries went up of “Ewww! Little brother ate cat-lick pie!”
Yep, cat-lick pie, and we’ve called it that ever since.
Quiche is pretty good pie. I’ve made sliced potato pie, something like scalloped potatoes and some bacon and whatever else makes sense (ish.) Sometimes cream cheese (really, a whatever pie.) Or maybe it was really scalloped potato quiche. Hamburger, instead of ham, or chunks of pork roast or chicken.
I suspect I’m of topic a bit. But you caught me thinking of vacation food plans.
Speaking of savory pies, in my area it is common to eat Tourtiere which is a yummy French Canadian pie made out of ground pork and potatoes and spices like clove, cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg. It’s especially popular around Christmas. It’s really good.
Beef pot pie
Chicken pot pie
Shepherd’s Pie(With Lamb meat)
Cottage Pie
Quiche Lorraine
etc…etc…etc
Oh…sweet pies,
Pecan pie - Which I never tried until I was well into my 20s…
Pumpkin pie
Key Lime Pie
better stop before I have sugar overload*.
Much more of a savory pie kinda dude though I will make exceptions if the sweet pies plead with their mere presences to be "liberated" from their owners....
Haha, I have to admit that I’ve never made a pie. My mil makes great pies, my H and D love her raspberry pie which I won’t eat. It’s super tart and they love it that way but I don’t. More for them and they don’t mind.
We have 2 chains (local to Michigan) that have great pies. Grand Traverse Pie Company and Cherry Republic. I get pie there, you can even buy a frozen pie from GT pie and bake it at home.
Also there is a small local restaurant that makes the best banana cream and coconut cream pie that are the best I’ve ever had.
I like pie, but I don’t like crust. So I guess I like pudding. ;
Costco has a strawberry rhubarb mini pie in the bakery section right now that I bought for a party. It was pretty darn good with vanilla ice cream, and there was none left by the end of the night. I tried some (although I left the crust). Rhubarb is really a very specific flavor-I still can’t decide if I enjoyed the bite of it or it was too piquant. I can see using rhubarb in a salsa.
Best unusual pie for me was a chocolate covered key lime pie on a stick. Tasty.
^^I tried those Costco mini pies. Have to admit I was sucked in by the rustic looking crust with fruit oozing out. For me, it was WAY too much crust, not enough fruit. A Costco cherry pie (often featured around Valentine’s) is amazing.
Salute to @Hanna and her evaluation of a good/bad pie!
I also am not a meringue fan at all. I’d push it to the side. A very tart lemon pie is stellar though. Homemade whipped cream over meringue - always.
I made spaghetti pie for dinner last night. Yum, and double yum for the leftovers for lunch today.
My favorite fruit pie is a pineapple-apricot, made with a can of crushed pineapple (unsweetened) and a bag of dried apricots - stewed together in a sauce pan to soften/reconstitute the apricots in the pineapple juice. Then I chill the “Jam” mixture overnight
It took me years to perfect the lattice top, until a friend finally told me to keep chilling the dough as I worked it - roll it out, cut in strips, then chill before assembling. I have never been a fan of storebought crusts - they taste like cardboard to me.
As for the bottom crust, when I preheat the oven, I leave a double-cookie sheet in the oven and I preheat to 425. When I am ready to bake, I turn down the oven to 375, and put the pie plate on the HOT cookie sheet, so the bottom cooks a little hotter to start. It gives a perfectly cooked bottom crust.
Baking a pie is more work than most desserts, but I get a sense of accomplishment and genuine appreciation from all who enjoy it with me.
