Blueberry Pie

[CaliPoutine]

I wonder if the problem was the tapioca. The recipe calls for 2 tablespoons of instant, but what I have is regular pearl. It says you can substitute pearl by using 5 teaspoons, which I did, but maybe that explains the difference between our results. Did you use instant?

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It might have taken longer( than the time specified in the recipe) for your pearl tapioca to break down. I suggest whizzing that in a coffee grinder the next time you want to use it.

[jsmeeker]

thanks for 'taking one for the team', Chris by making all of these pies. I'm a bit surprised the CI pie flopped like it did. I was expecting that one to do well.

Happy eating!

[mgaretz]

I made the CI blueberry pie today, using frozen blueberries from Costco. It sliced perfectly, no oozing at all. I have half left and the empty half is perfectly clean. I wonder what the difference was? The pie is totally awesome, Dad and brother were swooning.

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Interesting - mine have all been made with frozen berries - also from Costco - though once I did use a package of TJ's wild blueberries when I didn't have enough of the Coscto berries left. Mine have all set up fine.

[mgaretz]

I wonder if the problem was the tapioca. The recipe calls for 2 tablespoons of instant, but what I have is regular pearl. It says you can substitute pearl by using 5 teaspoons, which I did, but maybe that explains the difference between our results. Did you use instant?

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As I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, I used tapioca flour (which I get at the Asian grocery) one-for-one with the amount in the CI recipe. All the pies set perfectly.

[Chris Hennes]

It might have taken longer( than the time specified in the recipe) for your pearl tapioca to break down.  I suggest whizzing that in a coffee grinder the next time you want to use it.

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I did, in fact for quite a long time, then sifted it and used the weight equivalent of five teaspoons of only the finest particles.

[Chris Hennes]

thanks for 'taking one for the team', Chris by making all of these pies.  I'm a bit surprised the CI pie flopped like it did. I was expecting that one to do well.

Happy eating!

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Jeff, I should clarify: the taste of the CI pie was good, for a cooked pie. There was clearly some problem with the thickening, either the fact that I was using GIGANTIC fresh berries, or the fact that I made their suggested switch to pearl tapioca. But since others have reported that they did not have this issue, I figure it can be resolved, probably by just using instant tapioca, or tapioca flour as suggested above.

However, texture aside, while all three pies tasted good, and the CI pie may well be the "best blueberry pie" in that particular genre, RLB's pie with the high percentage of fresh berries was simply fantastic, along every dimension.

[Chris Hennes]

Cook's Illustrated Pie Update

I think it's just about definite that the use of the pearl tapioca was the culprit: the amount was correct, but the resting time needs to be longer. The photo yesterday was four hours after baking, the time specified in the recipe. After an additional 14 hours (the next time I checked), the pie has firmed up considerably, and now has a very good texture, as claimed in the article. Here are the updated photos:

As you can see, the definition has improved considerably with the additional rest: slices slump a little on the plate, but nowhere near the flow after four hours seen yesterday. Taking yet another one for the team, I forced myself to eat a slice. It was good. But to be sure, I ate another. Yup, still good. There is no doubt in my mind now that the CI recipe is superior in taste and texture to other fully-cooked blueberry pies I have had in the past. That said, I still believe that the RLB unbaked recipe results in a superior blueberry flavor. I will get the report from my wife's colleagues when I send the rest of the CI pie into work with her: they got the RLB pie today and liked it, but the comparison of opinions will be interesting.

[jsmeeker]

Looks like you have a winner there too, Chris!

[Emily_R]

Hi folks --

Chris -- thanks for posting about RLB's blueberry pie -- I will have to try this over the summer. For anyone interested who doesn't have her book, it looks like the recipe for her open-faced fresh blueberry pie is available on Epicurious...

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/vie...erry-Pie-101866

Emily

[Chris Hennes]

Good find, that's the one I used (though if you like pies, The Pie and Pastry Bible is a great buy—add it to your wishlist!).

[cmflick]

I made the CI pie yesterday and was not impressed at all. I followed the instructions exactly and waited 10 hours to cut the pie. It was basically crust with a blueberry sauce. There was no firmness to the pie at all. It's now about 22 hours since the pie was baked and it is still very fluid. I used fresh berries and ground instant tapioca as the recipe called for.

[Chris Hennes]

Interesting: I wonder what's going on with this pie? Some people are reporting total unqualified success, but others can't get it to firm up in the time stated (me) or at all (cmflick). It must be the blueberries, right? They're the only real variable. Or how much juice is squeezed out of the apple? Could the specific apple chosen make the difference? I note that they do not call the the shredded amount by weight: I think we could easily see very large variations in the amount of shredded apple included.

[cmflick]

Interesting: I wonder what's going on with this pie? Some people are reporting total unqualified success, but others can't get it to firm up in the time stated (me) or at all (cmflick). It must be the blueberries, right? They're the only real variable. Or how much juice is squeezed out of the apple? Could the specific apple chosen make the difference? I note that they do not call the the shredded amount by weight: I think we could easily see very large variations in the amount of shredded apple included.

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Interesting idea that it may be related to the apple. I used a Granny Smith apple as they called for and squeezed it pretty dry in a towel. I also wonder if it could be related to whether you're using fresh or frozen blueberries. It seems that the people having better luck with the pie setting are using frozen berries.

[Magictofu]

I find it interesting that you seem to prefer the refrigerated version of the CI pie. In my mind, a good blueberry pie needs to be on the runny side at least when served hot. That being said all pies look very tasty and I will probably try the RLB pie when wild bluebrerries will be in season in a few weeks.

By the way, you got some really gigantic blueberries! Do you need a crane to harvest them?

[rickster]

Interesting: I wonder what's going on with this pie? Some people are reporting total unqualified success, but others can't get it to firm up in the time stated (me) or at all (cmflick). It must be the blueberries, right? They're the only real variable. Or how much juice is squeezed out of the apple? Could the specific apple chosen make the difference? I note that they do not call the the shredded amount by weight: I think we could easily see very large variations in the amount of shredded apple included.

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Interesting idea that it may be related to the apple. I used a Granny Smith apple as they called for and squeezed it pretty dry in a towel. I also wonder if it could be related to whether you're using fresh or frozen blueberries. It seems that the people having better luck with the pie setting are using frozen berries.

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I wonder whether different varieties of blueberries have different levels of pectin, or whether it varies with time of harvest, growing conditions, etc.

[Chris Hennes]

Interesting thought. I wonder if there is an easy way to evaluate the pectin levels before making a full pie. Make a very small batch of the filling and see how well it sets up before committing six cups of berries to the deal? Then you could adjust the thickener to account for any variability in them.

[Katie Meadow]

Thank you Chris for the idea and endorsement and thank you Emily for the link to the RLB recipe. We made this pie last night and it was fabulous. We at it at midnight and then again for breakfast.

I used a 9 inch pie dish but it was rather deep, so I added an extra cup of berries, tossing a few in to the ones that are cooked down first, and most of them into the not-cooked. I used the rest of the ingredients as specified and it held together perfectly; no more cornstarch necessary--and I say the less cornstarch the better.

I made the mistake of tasting only a couple of berries first, and they were tart, so I used the full 1/2 c sugar. Next time I might be more careful and taste a few more before deciding how much sugar I might want. I could have cut back a bit, but then I do like tart pies.

My husband made his standard Julia Child crust which works for just about everything. Anyway it's a great pie.

[Emily_R]

Hi folks --

Just wanted to report back that I also made the RLB open-faced fresh blueberry pie a few days ago, and really liked it a lot. I cut back on the sugar since our fresh berries were super sweet... I think I also put this in a pyrex pie plate that was closer to 8 inches, as I tested out what 4 cups of berries looked like in my 9-inch plate and it didn't seem like quite enough. That said, my crust did shrink back a little (even with doing the blind baking with beans in it), so the 9 inch pie plate probably would have been okay for that reason...

All said, a nice alternative for summer pies, when it seems like a crime to cook those fantastic fresh berries to death!

[snowangel]

Looking at RLB's recipe, I see that it is almost identical to the 100+ year old recipe card in the box I inherited from my Great-Grandmother. It is easily accessible right here on RecipeGullet.

Note in my intro that this is really wonderful with bitter orange ice cream.

There is just something about the pop of the fresh berries, a good crust, and the "glue" that makes this pie spectacular.

We head north this weekend, and let's just hope that the picking (any BB pie, BTW, is so far superior if you have wild berries) is good. There has been frost in N. MN this July, so we are crossing our fingers.

[Chris Hennes]

The combination with bitter orange ice cream sounds great, I'll have to give it a go when blueberry season rolls around again here. I broke down the differences between your recipe and RLB's in this post, but it boils down to a higher proportion of fresh berries and less sugar and cornstarch in RLB's.