The eGullet PIE Potluck

[elyse]

If everyone isn't sick of my pecan pie....

[SobaAddict70]

I haven't tried it and have to be honest with you, elyse -- I'm low on the totem pole when it comes to pecan pie. However, since a lot of people LOVE your version (and since the cheese thingies are this side of AMAZING ), maybe you'll be the first to convert me.

I've been thinking lately of making a lamb shepherd's pie with a whipped turnip/potato crust. Another thing that's popped up on my radar is quiche, but I want to do a quiche that's not quiche lorraine, spinach quiche or mushroom quiche, so any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Soba

[elyse]

Thanks, Soba.

I just have to say, that one of my customers over the summer was making a chicken pot pie, and ran out of Bisquick for the top. She crumbled some of my cold pao de queijo dough on top and baked it that way. She said it was AMAZING.

[megc]

If everyone isn't sick of my pecan pie....

Perish the thought!

[rozrapp]

Another thing that's popped up on my radar is quiche, but I want to do a quiche that's not quiche lorraine, spinach quiche or mushroom quiche, so any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Soba, I make my quiche with leeks -- no onions, no scallions, just leeks. It is seriously delicious! If you'd like the recipe, let me know.

[SethG]

I'm thinking it might be time I met some of y'all. May I come to the pie potluck?

Has anyone proposed making some sort of quince pie or tart? My new interest in quinces should still be in force a month from now.

Count me as tentative.

[Suzanne F]

May you? But of course! At least YOU won't need directions to the neighborhood.

I will start the "official" list just after New Years. (I'll need until at least then to clear out all the stacks of newspapers and clean the oven.) No need to commit yet on either attendance or contribution. Just keep it in mind.

Edited December 6, 2003 by Suzanne F (log)

[Suzanne F]

This thread on pies has just reappeared. Check it out if you need inspiration.

[alacarte]

I thought of the "pie potluck" this weekend. Was in the NY Public Library, where I found the most wonderful book, "Food and Drink in America" by Richard J. Hooker. I've got to call Kitchen Arts & Letters and see if I can score a copy, it's written very accessibly and appears to be quite thoroughly researched.

A full chapter is devoted to the history of dessert, including an extended discussion on the phenomenon of pie in America:

On Cape Cod the cranberry pie was much liked, and New Englanders were devoted to squash, pumpkin, mince, and apple pies. Southerners enjoyed lemon, orange, peach, sweet potato, and pecan pies, and Texans favored the last two. Rural Ohio knew wild grape, dried applesauce, and green currant pies, among many others. Some varieties were novel anywhere, such as coconut, tomato, banana, cheesecake, and chocolate pies. Late in the century a vinegar pie flourished.

[Suzanne F]

Neat! If you get a copy, bring it along. (You ARE coming, right?)

Also, if anyone has a copy of Pascale Drouaeiouc's (sp? ), please bring it. I'll dig out my copy of Sue Hubble's New Yorker article, source of one of the best definitions of regionality I've ever heard. (Y'all will have to come to the potluck to hear it )

[alacarte]

Neat! If you get a copy, bring it along. (You ARE coming, right?)

Also, if anyone has a copy of Pascale Drouaeiouc's (sp? ), please bring it. I'll dig out my copy of Sue Hubble's New Yorker article, source of one of the best definitions of regionality I've ever heard. (Y'all will have to come to the potluck to hear it )

you got it, Suzanne. And yes, you bet I'm coming to the pie potluck!

I'd love to see that New Yorker article, it sounds fascinating.

[sherribabee]

Mmmmmmm...pie.

[Pan]

alacarte, the concept of a vinegar pie is most intriguing. If you ever have a chance to describe that one further, I'd be really interested.

[alacarte]

alacarte, the concept of a vinegar pie is most intriguing. If you ever have a chance to describe that one further, I'd be really interested.

I'm intrigued too -- I've never sampled one. Maybe I'll try to make one for the Pie Potluck.

I did a few google searches on "Vinegar Pie," and apparently there are quite a few variations. The filling ingredients usually include sugar, eggs, vinegar (usually but not always cider vinegar), lemon extract, zest, or liqueur, and water, sometimes butter or flour too. The pie crust usually is just the standard.

I also found a "modern version" that includes sour cream, walnuts, raisins and spices (allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves). I also found a version that calls for "lemon thyme rice vinegar" (now where the heck would I find that?), pecans, and vanilla extract instead of lemon extract.

[Rachel Perlow]

"I also found a version that calls for "lemon thyme rice vinegar" (now where the heck would I find that?)"

I would think that you would take rice vinegar and infuse it with lemon zest and thyme.

[Squeat Mungry]

"I also found a version that calls for "lemon thyme rice vinegar" (now where the heck would I find that?)"

I would think that you would take rice vinegar and infuse it with lemon zest and thyme.

I haven't seen the recipe, so I can't be sure, but there is a specific variety of thyme known as "lemon thyme" with a citrus-y flavor. Perhaps that could be used to infuse the rice vinegar?

Cheers,

Squeat

[Suzanne F]

Or just with lemon thyme, the herb.

[alacarte]

thanks for all the lemon-thyme-infused thoughts.

I went back & checked the recipe -- no description of how to infuse, it's just listed as a commonplace ingredient. Sigh. That's what I get for using Google as my personal recipe box.

[alacarte]

Another strange pie:

Stargazy pie is a fish pie of Cornish origin. It is made with the fishes' heads sticking out of the crust all round the rim, and presumably takes its name from their appearance of gazing skywards. In her Observer Guide to British Cookery (1984) Jane Grigson notes that 'it is a speciality of Mousehole where they make it on 23 December every year, Tom Bawcock's Eve, in memory of the fisherman who saved the town from a hungry Christmas one stormy winter.'

[elyse]

Do NOT, anyone, think they're serving that to me!

[Suzanne F]

Oh, NY Times Magazine had a recipe -- with picture -- for starrygazy pie some time ago. So cute, the little heads all poking out of the crust. I've got it in my files.

[elyse]

Don't think I clipped that one.

Suzanne, love the Weeble and Bob! I also liked the bloopers.

[bloviatrix]

Oh, NY Times Magazine had a recipe -- with picture -- for starrygazy pie some time ago. So cute, the little heads all poking out of the crust. I've got it in my files.

Considering how much fish heads freak me out, that's an image I'd rather not have in my head.

[alacarte]

Agreed, it sounds like something from the Gallery of Regrettable Food.

[kitwilliams]

I think Stargazey Pie sounds adorable. I am now having "visions of fishheads dancing in my head" and singing along with Weebl and Bob.