Do you know what you're feeding everyone for Thanksgiving
yet? Don't feel bad--you're not alone. I caught a lucky
break this year, personally--my aunt and uncle are having everybody
over to their place in Vermont. That means some fabulous
Chinese food (maybe the pork shoulder with carrots, if we're
lucky), a lot of chatty catching-up among the girl cousins, and not
a single person who actually cares whether there's a turkey or
not. My job? Pies.
Now, if your job is pies, too, you're in
luck. Pie books abound these days-- Nancie McDermott's
new one, Southern Pies, has a dizzy selection (spicy peanut! green
tomato!)--but there's also gluten-free pies, high-altitude pies,
even whoopie pies. All this means that if you check your EYB
Bookshelf, like I did--you've probably got hundreds of pie
recipes. My Bookshelf has 3,325. But I actually only
need 4.
I'm sorry to say I can take or leave the traditional
Thanksgiving pies--pumpkin pie, sweet potato pie, pecan pie.
I'm sure there's a good time and place for them--after you've been
skiing all day, say, and you're a mite peckish. But after the
gastronomic blowout that is Thanksgiving? Your typical
4000-calorie pecan pie elicits nothing but groans, and for good
reason.
So here's where I am right now: Pie 1: Apple pie, with
local heirloom apples and the failproof pie crust from Jeffrey
Steingarten's The Man Who Ate
Everything.
Pie 2: Very
Cranberry-Pear Pie, which I just found with a search for
"cranberries," in the "Pies, Tarts, & Pastries" category.
It's in Ken Haedrich's Pie.
Pie 3 will be Sherry Yard's Deep dark
chocolate tart, from Secrets of Baking. I know, I know,
not a pie, but some of us just can't do without our
chocolate. I'm hoping everyone will be too stuffed with pork
to notice.
That leaves me with Pie 4, which is, right now, a riddle wrapped
in a mystery inside an enigma. How about it, EYB
friends? Got a favorite pie--or non-pie--you think everyone
should know about? Talk to me - leave a comment!
I'll be back after Turkey (or Whatever) Day with a full
report. Meantime, enjoy your holidays, everybody--down to the
last crumb.
