Apple
Pie Perfect
100 Delicious and Decidedly Different Recipes
for America's Favorite Pie
by Ken Haedrich (Harvard Common Press)
If an apple a day is just too much, try throwing in a plum,
blackberry, grape or even a tomato. That's just the
beginning of Ken Haedrich's philosophy when it comes
to this country's favorite pie.
Haedrich, an award-winning cookbook author (the Julia Child/IACP
award for his Home
for the Holidays) and top food writer (a regular
contributor to Bon Appetit and Better Homes
and Gardens among others) wants to drizzle a little
coconut streusel and other surprises on your pie-in-the-sky
ideas.
"Why
a book of 100 apple pie recipes?," he asks early on.
"That's a perfectly reasonable question, and I probably
have as many answers for it as I do, well, recipes for apple
pie. But I doubt I could say it better than the eminent
horticulturist Liberty Hyde Bailey, who addressed the issue—if
only by extension, and one step shy of the oven—in
his 1922 book The Apple Tree:
"'Why
do we need so many kinds of apples? Because there are so
many folks. A person has a right to gratify his legitimate
taste. If he wants twenty or forty kinds of apples for his
personal use, running from Early Harvest to Roxbury Russet,
he should be accorded the privilege…There is merit
in variety itself. It provides more contact with life, and
leads away from uniformity and monotony.'"
Haedrich's enthusiasm for the subject and clear expertise
make the book both a pleasure to read and use. If you have
never made apple pie and want to learn how to do it right,
by Haedrich's side is the place to hang out. If you
are an expert who wants to add a batch of new recipes to
your repertoire, you are also in the perfect spot.
Everyone who has made or eaten an outstanding apple pie
knows the fantastic fruits of such labors don't necessarily
come easily, but are well worth the effort. First, there
is the crust: Get it just buttery enough, while still fervently
flaky and you are on to something. Haedrich leads the way
with all kinds of alternatives from butter, to cream cheese,
to whole wheat, to multigrain.
Picking the right apples and other adornments and preparing
them just so is the next step. Final measures are no less
perfect. Conscientious Haedrich never takes a misstep, whether
it's topping that apple plum pie with a creamy coconut streusel
or knowing it's best to dress a Shaker boiled apple cider
pie with nothing more than unsweetened whipped cream.
RECIPES:
BEST
BUTTER PIE PASTRY
FRESH
TOMATO AND APPLE PIE
(Updated: 10/30/08 SB)
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