When my
boys were little, there were things they thought they wouldn't like to
eat. Broccoli. When he learned that it was tiny trees and the dinosaurs
ate trees - well, he could that, too! (one down) When tuna salad
sounded a little fishy, but chicken salad was delicious, I found
Swimming Chicken Salad.There was even a "Chicken of the Sea" (must have
been a deep water chicken)! Lo and behold...they liked it. What was
next. Quiche. Thank you humorists..."Real men don't eat quiche" -- and
of course, my two little boys were "real men". What do you know - we had
Cheese & Eggie pie. It was delicious, Mom!
Pie. (again with the angels singing in unison)
Well, now that I've thought that word, I have to say that all I can
think now is how good pie is. Fruits, custards, cremes all held in a
crispy, flaky, subtle crust. Warm from the oven with some cold ice cream
melting around the fruits. A wedge of cheese melting over the apples.
Or simply cream, poured over a hearty and substantial slab pie filled
with peaches and plums. The savory aroma of a Chicken Pot Pie, steam
rising from a golden crust, the glorious roping of edging around the pie
plate.
Never
had a great looking pie? Make them all the time, but you just don't get
the flaky crust that is so treasured? Do you use vodka? OK, do you use
vodka in your crust? The folks at Cook's Illustrated and shared by Food 52 discovered (and thankfully shared) is adding vodka in place of part of the water.
The
theory is if you replace half the water with vodka (a good portion of
which evaporates in the oven's heat, thus reducing the liquid in the
crust) you get sizzley, flakey,
glorious crust rather than something that is already becoming a
glutinous mass of "I-wish-I-hadn't-thought-I-could-make-a-pie" regret.
Think
of tossing in vanilla vodka in your apple pie crust or branch out to
some really tasty liquors (honey bourbon?) to kick up the flavor ever so
slightly.
Look at Food 52 for the whole recipe and sciency-technical explanation of how it works as well as the most amazing pictures of the process (snippet above).
Now get
out there and make that crust. Make a whole bunch of crusts. I try to
keep one in my fridge for those emergency pies. (dinner, dessert, pie
gift to a friend)
Aren't you glad you dropped by today?
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