OK, pursuant to another thread's discussion, this seems apposite.
The Old Forum had a rather contentious thread on this; maybe we can elaborate on the values of both without needing to excommunicate those who have different tastes?
So...I like both, in any case...
Who likes what?
And as one person was just asking, "Whhhhatttt arrreee yourrr secretttsss???"
M.
Yes, please, all of them. Cheesecake too.
I just made this: https://www.washingtonpost.com/recipes/simple-sesame-cake/17691/
It's cooling on the counter even as I type.
A friend visiting from DC and I made a whole Thanksgiving feast one year,, using all-Wa-Po recipes....this one sounds great!
M.
Both, please. Coconut cake, lemon meringue pie, double chocolate torte, chicken pot pie, peach cobbler, sour cream pound cake.... I'll take one of each.
That's consistent with one of my favorite sayings: "When life give your lemons, make lemon meringue pie...!"
M.
Boston cream pie. Best of both worlds.
I think the key to good cake is learning to make your own frosting! I am a fan of the Betty Crocker sour cream frosting, chocolate variation. It's smooth, creamy and not too sweet.
Deep, dark secret: if I'm in a hurry, I use a boxed cake mix. Box mixes are always flavorful and moist. Put on homemade frosting and no one will know it's not all from scratch if you don't tell them.
For pie, learn to make a crust with lard (or shortening for the true vegetarians out there). All-butter pie crusts are so fussy to make. To get a butter flavor, simply dot the filling with butter before adding the top crust!
Ahh, OK, now we're getting the secrets.
What kind of flour do you like best?
M.
In principle, I like them both. In practice, most cakes are gross, apart from the ones you get at good pâtisseries, or if you're making the bûche from Les recettes de tante Léa.
I find a mediocre pie more palatable than a mediocre cake.
I've been pondering making a bûche, I have the ingredients, all except the time....!
My cousin in Belgium has a <<bûche de Noel>> at Christmas whenever I'm there, but I'm happy to make/eat one anytime.
A Napoleon is cool, too....
M.
Quote from: wareagle on February 16, 2021, 01:56:26 PM
Boston cream pie. Best of both worlds.
No. Just no.
Cherry cobbler forever!
I have successfully reduced the refined sugar content of the pumpkin pie handed down by my mother from one cup to three tablespoons. As a substitute I have added whites of two eggs.
Is that for structure, or do the egg whites make it sweeter as well?
Never considered that!
M.
-Steak and kidney pie.
-Pork pie.
-Chicken pie [Mrs. Budd's]
I would prefer crab cakes and pot pies, but I guess those are probably out of bounds (though thanks to Vkw10 for sneaking the latter into the list!).
Quote from: Parasaurolophus on February 16, 2021, 02:31:51 PM
In principle, I like them both. In practice, most cakes are gross, apart from the ones you get at good pâtisseries, or if you're making the bûche from Les recettes de tante Léa.
I find a mediocre pie more palatable than a mediocre cake.
I probably lean in this direction. In principle I like both, but in practice I only like cakes I have had from two bakeries. Both are thousands of miles from here. Sometimes I like those molten chocolate lava cakes, but I'm not sure if they count. Pies are a bit easier. I grew up loving coconut custard pie but haven't had it in ages and miss it. Went through a coconut cream pie phase as a young adult, but that might be too sweet at this point. Still like pumpkin pie. And the strawberry glaze pie my cousin used to make. I don't really have much of a sweet tooth, though.
On preview: Another savory fan! Yay!
Quote from: the_geneticist on February 16, 2021, 01:59:08 PM
For pie, learn to make a crust with lard (or shortening for the true vegetarians out there). All-butter pie crusts are so fussy to make. To get a butter flavor, simply dot the filling with butter before adding the top crust!
I've been getting great results with a basic pie crust recipe from Joy of Cooking. I use half shortening and half butter. (Due to family food allergies, I've never tried cooking with lard.)
I also substitute butter for all the shortening when making cake recipes that call for shortening. It turns out well.
Savory's cool.
Sweet's cool, too.
En francais, 《sucre》et《salle》are both accepted, too...so it must be ok (sorry, no easy accents on this phone).
This is an ecumenical thread meant to uplift commonalities--disparagements not required to participate...
I made crabcakes at Christmas--or maybe it was Thanksgiving?
And I've made potpies several times lately, it's nice to have something hearty and warm that you can enjoy over and over without as much work the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th times.
Has anyone ever made or had a Cornish pasty?
I've never gotten all the way to Cornwall, nor found them in shops in London, Salisbury, Worcester or Hereford...
So, I'm curious about those, too.
M.
Quote from: mamselle on February 16, 2021, 03:44:49 PM
Is that for structure, or do the egg whites make it sweeter as well?
Never considered that!
M.
In my opinion it does both.
Quote from: ab_grp on February 16, 2021, 04:05:43 PM
I would prefer crab cakes and pot pies, but I guess those are probably out of bounds (though thanks to Vkw10 for sneaking the latter into the list!).
Quote from: Parasaurolophus on February 16, 2021, 02:31:51 PM
In principle, I like them both. In practice, most cakes are gross, apart from the ones you get at good pâtisseries, or if you're making the bûche from Les recettes de tante Léa.
I find a mediocre pie more palatable than a mediocre cake.
I probably lean in this direction. In principle I like both, but in practice I only like cakes I have had from two bakeries. Both are thousands of miles from here. Sometimes I like those molten chocolate lava cakes, but I'm not sure if they count. Pies are a bit easier. I grew up loving coconut custard pie but haven't had it in ages and miss it.
Oh yeah, I used to make those lava cakes regularly myself. I accept them, and think they count, although I'd really prefer my fancier cakes!
I also accept pot pies.
Rhubarb pie! Cherry! And apple, though there's a distressing amount of tasteless apple pie out there. And why is shortening called that?
Apple pie (WidgetMan's favorite) is really dependent on the type of apples used. A firm apple prevents the mushiness, and strong-flavored is a must. My personal favorite is the Wealthy apple; makes delicious, buttery, apple-y pie. But Granny Smith is a solid choice.
My personal favorite is cake, but I won't say "no" to a good pie.
QuoteHas anyone ever made or had a Cornish pasty?
I've never gotten all the way to Cornwall, nor found them in shops in London, Salisbury, Worcester or Hereford...
So, I'm curious about those, too.
We spent several weeks in Cornwall a few years back and tried a variety of them--traditional (beef with turnip) and more modern versions--cheese, vegetarian, etc. I am a fan of the traditional. I have wanted to try making them but haven't so far.
Quote from: Harlow2 on February 17, 2021, 07:28:26 AM
Rhubarb pie! Cherry! And apple, though there's a distressing amount of tasteless apple pie out there. And why is shortening called that?
Vegetable shortening/Crisco is called shortening because it is similar to lard (the original go-to for bakers) in that it's solid at room temperature and gives a crumbly or "short" texture to baked goods. Fat is supposed to interfere with gluten cross-linking formation. Long gluten strands give the stretch or bounce and sturdiness to pasta & bread. Lack of these cross-links gives the crumbly or soft texture in cookies and pie crust. Of course, you can over-mix a pie crust and that will encourage more cross-linking and your pie crust will be tough.
If I remember correctly, the original hydrogenated vegetable oil was marketed as an ingredient for soap-making, not for cooking.
Coconut cake.
Shoofly pie (wet bottom).
My wife's family makes something they call blackberry cobbler, but it's actually just a square or rectangular pie. Mmm. Best with ice cream.
I also like something they call strawberry shortcake, which is actually just chunks of pie crust served with ice cream and strawberries.
Quote from: Harlow2 on February 17, 2021, 07:28:26 AM
Rhubarb pie! Cherry!
My cousin in Belgium makes a rhubarb-cherry tart....talk about sweet-n-sour....my mouth puckers just remembering it. It's a low, open-faced pie, sometimes with custard on the bottom, sometimes just a tapioca glaze.
Mmm...
Because it is cold and I am sitting in my basement, I'm dreaming of juneberry pie, my favorite of all time. (For my Canadian friends, I'm talking about saskatoons. I'm from the south side of that border where they have a different name.) There's a place right on Lake Sakakawea in western North Dakota, thirty miles from anything that'd count as a town, that makes the best juneberry pie. I didn't get to make my annual summer pilgrimage there last year (I now live on the north side of that border), but I'm dreaming of it now...
We like apple pie, blueberry pie, mango custard pie, chocolate pie and pumpkin pie over here. SO is in love with Key Lime pie. Cake is probably tied with pie. Pound cake, Devil's Food cake, Red Velvet cake, chocolate mousse cake, pineapple upside-down cake- they're all good!
Savory pies are also acceptable. Can't beat a chicken pot pie, or shepherd's pie.
Quote from: Liquidambar on February 16, 2021, 04:26:11 PM
Quote from: the_geneticist on February 16, 2021, 01:59:08 PM
For pie, learn to make a crust with lard (or shortening for the true vegetarians out there). All-butter pie crusts are so fussy to make. To get a butter flavor, simply dot the filling with butter before adding the top crust!
I've been getting great results with a basic pie crust recipe from Joy of Cooking. I use half shortening and half butter. (Due to family food allergies, I've never tried cooking with lard.)
I also substitute butter for all the shortening when making cake recipes that call for shortening. It turns out well.
I got terrible results from that pie crust recipe. I later learned that I wasn't using nearly enough butter or water. Maybe my one-cup measure was too big? Something was off about the proportions, anyway, and when I first started I didn't know what sort of consistency to look for, which meant that following the recipe exactly left me with a crumbly mess that didn't roll out, and I was too ignorant to do things like add more water until it cohered.
Now I'm less stingy with both butter and water and it works well. I've found that Melissa Clarke's pie crust recipe on the NYTimes cooking is pretty good, although that has too much butter (like, 10 Tbsp for one cup of flour or so) and tends to drip on the oven floor. The best amount of butter, I've found, is enough so that if you cook your crust in a transparent (e.g., pyrex) pie plate, you can see it bubbling away at the bottom and up the sides, sort of deep-frying in butter the crust dough, but not so much that it bubbles over.
I'm also having good results from freezing + grating the butter, so I don't have to spend ages rubbing/cutting it into the flour.
Quote from: ergative on February 16, 2021, 12:44:04 PM
Yes, please, all of them. Cheesecake too.
I just made this: https://www.washingtonpost.com/recipes/simple-sesame-cake/17691/
It's cooling on the counter even as I type.
Sorry for the double-post, but I just want to update: This cake is
excellent, and highly recommended.
Krispy Kreme is selling Mars donuts today. And if you've got your Mars Rover boarding pass, you get a Mars donut for free!
Our area ousted KK in favor of DD.....so, this may be a regional thing...!!
(But still good to know for those who can take advantage of it)
In other news: This recipe for Blackberry cobbler appeared in my newsfeed this AM.
It seems to read my mind, sometimes, although I know it's just algorithms:
https://www.mashed.com/334375/blackberry-cobbler-recipe/
One place where I lived and was allowed to grow stuff had blackberry bushes all across the back of the yard...great for pancakes, too; I'd just go pick a few in the AM and mix them into the pancake batter or smush them in with the syrup before heating it up...also good in crepes!
Might have to make a cobbler soon...
Enjoy!
M.
Quote from: mamselle on February 16, 2021, 04:39:50 PM
This is an ecumenical thread meant to uplift commonalities--disparagements not required to participate...
So people who are just wrong are allowed (even encouraged) to spread their wrongness? No.
Quote from: mamselle on February 16, 2021, 04:39:50 PM
Has anyone ever made or had a Cornish pasty?
If you were from the right part of the Midwest, then you would have had these all the time as a child. They aren't pies, though, any more than pot pies are pies, but they are very good and I've seldom have a bad one.
One of my favorite cakes is the Reine de Saba from Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking (chocolate almond rum [or coffee] cake). It is easy, and it is delicious. The frosting is nothing but butter, chocolate, and a flavoring--rum or coffee are suggested. (I usually choose coffee.).
As for pies, my favorite is apple, but really, I would not turn down almost any kind of fruit pie. My husband prefers Key lime and lemon meringue with graham cracker crusts.
Oh, gosh, key lime pie with whipped cream is the best!
I will not make meringues after a traumatic experience that required me to toss an entire chocolate coconut cream pie after the meringue peed all over it.
Sorry if I missed it earlier in the thread, but my husband has had good results with a pie crust he makes using vodka (Cook's Illustrated, I think).
Quote from: ergative on February 18, 2021, 02:56:01 AM
Quote from: Liquidambar on February 16, 2021, 04:26:11 PM
Quote from: the_geneticist on February 16, 2021, 01:59:08 PM
For pie, learn to make a crust with lard (or shortening for the true vegetarians out there). All-butter pie crusts are so fussy to make. To get a butter flavor, simply dot the filling with butter before adding the top crust!
I've been getting great results with a basic pie crust recipe from Joy of Cooking. I use half shortening and half butter. (Due to family food allergies, I've never tried cooking with lard.)
I also substitute butter for all the shortening when making cake recipes that call for shortening. It turns out well.
I got terrible results from that pie crust recipe. I later learned that I wasn't using nearly enough butter or water. Maybe my one-cup measure was too big? Something was off about the proportions, anyway, and when I first started I didn't know what sort of consistency to look for, which meant that following the recipe exactly left me with a crumbly mess that didn't roll out, and I was too ignorant to do things like add more water until it cohered.
Now I'm less stingy with both butter and water and it works well. I've found that Melissa Clarke's pie crust recipe on the NYTimes cooking is pretty good, although that has too much butter (like, 10 Tbsp for one cup of flour or so) and tends to drip on the oven floor. The best amount of butter, I've found, is enough so that if you cook your crust in a transparent (e.g., pyrex) pie plate, you can see it bubbling away at the bottom and up the sides, sort of deep-frying in butter the crust dough, but not so much that it bubbles over.
I'm also having good results from freezing + grating the butter, so I don't have to spend ages rubbing/cutting it into the flour.
The easiest way is to roughly chop the butter then pulse it in a food processor with part of the flour.
I do find that most crust recipes call for too little water, though they generally do say to add more as needed. It does really depend on how dry your flour is though -- when I lived in Colorado with often under 10% humidity everything involving flour needed more liquid than called for.
Quote from: Puget on February 18, 2021, 09:05:32 AM
Quote from: ergative on February 18, 2021, 02:56:01 AM
Quote from: Liquidambar on February 16, 2021, 04:26:11 PM
Quote from: the_geneticist on February 16, 2021, 01:59:08 PM
For pie, learn to make a crust with lard (or shortening for the true vegetarians out there). All-butter pie crusts are so fussy to make. To get a butter flavor, simply dot the filling with butter before adding the top crust!
I've been getting great results with a basic pie crust recipe from Joy of Cooking. I use half shortening and half butter. (Due to family food allergies, I've never tried cooking with lard.)
I also substitute butter for all the shortening when making cake recipes that call for shortening. It turns out well.
I got terrible results from that pie crust recipe. I later learned that I wasn't using nearly enough butter or water. Maybe my one-cup measure was too big? Something was off about the proportions, anyway, and when I first started I didn't know what sort of consistency to look for, which meant that following the recipe exactly left me with a crumbly mess that didn't roll out, and I was too ignorant to do things like add more water until it cohered.
Now I'm less stingy with both butter and water and it works well. I've found that Melissa Clarke's pie crust recipe on the NYTimes cooking is pretty good, although that has too much butter (like, 10 Tbsp for one cup of flour or so) and tends to drip on the oven floor. The best amount of butter, I've found, is enough so that if you cook your crust in a transparent (e.g., pyrex) pie plate, you can see it bubbling away at the bottom and up the sides, sort of deep-frying in butter the crust dough, but not so much that it bubbles over.
I'm also having good results from freezing + grating the butter, so I don't have to spend ages rubbing/cutting it into the flour.
The easiest way is to roughly chop the butter then pulse it in a food processor with part of the flour.
I do find that most crust recipes call for too little water, though they generally do say to add more as needed. It does really depend on how dry your flour is though -- when I lived in Colorado with often under 10% humidity everything involving flour needed more liquid than called for.
I have a coupon that becomes active March first, which I plan to use on a new food processor! (The old one died; it was small and cheap, but served its purpose sufficiently well to educate us that food processors are awesome).
Quote from: mamselle on February 16, 2021, 04:39:50 PM
Has anyone ever made or had a Cornish pasty?
I've never gotten all the way to Cornwall, nor found them in shops in London, Salisbury, Worcester or Hereford...
So, I'm curious about those, too.
M.
I've had a Cornish pasty in deepest, darkest Cornwall. It was definitely nice but I must admit the best pasties I've had, for my taste, weren't in the UK, or even in a Commonwealth country, but in central-ish Mexico of all places. Specifically, spicy-beans-and-chorizo pasties.
This thread is making me crave pies. I'm less a of a fan of cake, but I'm also craving an orange and yoghurt cake that I've made a couple of times (my mother's recipe). I should try my hand at shepherd's pie or some other savory pie. Or blueberry pie. Pastries have never been my strong suit, although I've baked good-tasting croissants my pastries tend not to look very appetizing.
Quote from: the_geneticist on February 17, 2021, 09:16:30 AM
Quote from: Harlow2 on February 17, 2021, 07:28:26 AM
Rhubarb pie! Cherry! And apple, though there's a distressing amount of tasteless apple pie out there. And why is shortening called that?
Vegetable shortening/Crisco is called shortening because it is similar to lard (the original go-to for bakers) in that it's solid at room temperature and gives a crumbly or "short" texture to baked goods. Fat is supposed to interfere with gluten cross-linking formation. Long gluten strands give the stretch or bounce and sturdiness to pasta & bread. Lack of these cross-links gives the crumbly or soft texture in cookies and pie crust. Of course, you can over-mix a pie crust and that will encourage more cross-linking and your pie crust will be tough.
If I remember correctly, the original hydrogenated vegetable oil was marketed as an ingredient for soap-making, not for cooking.
That answers my question! And also explains why my pie crusts aren't soft.
Quote from: ergative on February 18, 2021, 02:56:01 AM
Quote from: Liquidambar on February 16, 2021, 04:26:11 PM
Quote from: the_geneticist on February 16, 2021, 01:59:08 PM
For pie, learn to make a crust with lard (or shortening for the true vegetarians out there). All-butter pie crusts are so fussy to make. To get a butter flavor, simply dot the filling with butter before adding the top crust!
I've been getting great results with a basic pie crust recipe from Joy of Cooking. I use half shortening and half butter. (Due to family food allergies, I've never tried cooking with lard.)
I also substitute butter for all the shortening when making cake recipes that call for shortening. It turns out well.
I got terrible results from that pie crust recipe. I later learned that I wasn't using nearly enough butter or water. Maybe my one-cup measure was too big? Something was off about the proportions, anyway, and when I first started I didn't know what sort of consistency to look for, which meant that following the recipe exactly left me with a crumbly mess that didn't roll out, and I was too ignorant to do things like add more water until it cohered.
Now I'm less stingy with both butter and water and it works well. I've found that Melissa Clarke's pie crust recipe on the NYTimes cooking is pretty good, although that has too much butter (like, 10 Tbsp for one cup of flour or so) and tends to drip on the oven floor. The best amount of butter, I've found, is enough so that if you cook your crust in a transparent (e.g., pyrex) pie plate, you can see it bubbling away at the bottom and up the sides, sort of deep-frying in butter the crust dough, but not so much that it bubbles over.
I'm also having good results from freezing + grating the butter, so I don't have to spend ages rubbing/cutting it into the flour.
That's the problem with pie crusts, in contrast to other desserts. Until you've seen how the texture is supposed to look, following a recipe will only get you so far. I think cakes are much easier to make from a recipe.
I use a pastry cutter similar to this one (https://www.amazon.com/OXO-Stainless-Bladed-Blender-Cutter/dp/B000QJE48O) to incorporate the fats into the flour. I'm too lazy to grate the butter or haul out my food processor.
I tend to make more cakes than pies since I do a better job on cakes. This thread is making me crave pie, though. I kind of want to make a pecan pie, but I'd have to eat the entire thing myself since Liquidspouse is off sweets for Lent.
Quote from: Harlow2 on February 18, 2021, 03:10:49 PM
Quote from: the_geneticist on February 17, 2021, 09:16:30 AM
Quote from: Harlow2 on February 17, 2021, 07:28:26 AM
Rhubarb pie! Cherry! And apple, though there's a distressing amount of tasteless apple pie out there. And why is shortening called that?
Vegetable shortening/Crisco is called shortening because it is similar to lard (the original go-to for bakers) in that it's solid at room temperature and gives a crumbly or "short" texture to baked goods. Fat is supposed to interfere with gluten cross-linking formation. Long gluten strands give the stretch or bounce and sturdiness to pasta & bread. Lack of these cross-links gives the crumbly or soft texture in cookies and pie crust. Of course, you can over-mix a pie crust and that will encourage more cross-linking and your pie crust will be tough.
If I remember correctly, the original hydrogenated vegetable oil was marketed as an ingredient for soap-making, not for cooking.
That answers my question! And also explains why my pie crusts aren't soft.
Personally I prefer an all butter crust. It is a bit trickier to work with, but worth it. You really just have to treat it gently, mixing just until it forms a ball (no kneading!), then chill before rolling. It also helps to use pastry flour (which is lower protein than "all purpose") if possible-- I like whole wheat pastry flour, which also gives the crust a nice slightly nutty/toasty flavor.
Quote from: Puget on February 18, 2021, 06:20:24 PM
Quote from: Harlow2 on February 18, 2021, 03:10:49 PM
Quote from: the_geneticist on February 17, 2021, 09:16:30 AM
Quote from: Harlow2 on February 17, 2021, 07:28:26 AM
Rhubarb pie! Cherry! And apple, though there's a distressing amount of tasteless apple pie out there. And why is shortening called that?
Vegetable shortening/Crisco is called shortening because it is similar to lard (the original go-to for bakers) in that it's solid at room temperature and gives a crumbly or "short" texture to baked goods. Fat is supposed to interfere with gluten cross-linking formation. Long gluten strands give the stretch or bounce and sturdiness to pasta & bread. Lack of these cross-links gives the crumbly or soft texture in cookies and pie crust. Of course, you can over-mix a pie crust and that will encourage more cross-linking and your pie crust will be tough.
If I remember correctly, the original hydrogenated vegetable oil was marketed as an ingredient for soap-making, not for cooking.
That answers my question! And also explains why my pie crusts aren't soft.
Personally I prefer an all butter crust. It is a bit trickier to work with, but worth it. You really just have to treat it gently, mixing just until it forms a ball (no kneading!), then chill before rolling. It also helps to use pastry flour (which is lower protein than "all purpose") if possible-- I like whole wheat pastry flour, which also gives the crust a nice slightly nutty/toasty flavor.
Oooh, pastry flour! I hadn't thought of that. I have both white and whole wheat pastry flour, so maybe I'll give that a try.
Liquidambar, I have two pastry cutters, but I find that using them is more work than grating frozen butter--especially since my butter lives in the freezer anyway.
I want us to have a fete in which we all bring our pie crusts and compare!
Meet-up!
Some day, far in the future....
OK, where can we book it with enough space for all the tables it'll take to show off all our baked wares?
(I immediately thought of the permanent Farm Produce barn at the Ohio State Fairgrounds, where I was raised, in Col's, OH...other suggestions? )
And...ummm....Covid permitting, when? (A year from now, in the spring?)
M.
Apologies for the double-post, but just saw this recipe for biscuit peach cobbler:
https://buythiscookthat.com/biscuit-peach-cobbler/
The title says it's a "real Southern thing," but...is that true?
And if so, or if not, how or why?
Inquiring minds want to know!
M.
Quote from: mamselle on February 19, 2021, 02:01:33 PM
Apologies for the double-post, but just saw this recipe for biscuit peach cobbler:
https://buythiscookthat.com/biscuit-peach-cobbler/
The title says it's a "real Southern thing," but...is that true?
And if so, or if not, how or why?
Inquiring minds want to know!
M.
My mother's Georgia family did the "cup cup cup" peach cobbler also mentioned, cooked in a metal dishpan or long Pyrex dish. Grandma used the dishpan; she had nine children so the dishpan was practical for family events. My father's North Carolina family preferred apple cobbler to peach; the apple cobbler was cooked in skillet with a sweet biscuit dough rolled out and cut in pretty shapes. Grandmother believed that food should be neat and pretty; she deplored rustic presentations.
Southern enough for me! (I was born in NC, in fact...)
The biscuit crust interested me, in particular: how did that become the standard, rather than pie crust?
Or is there just not that much difference between them?
M.
Quote from: mamselle on February 19, 2021, 06:41:08 PM
Southern enough for me! (I was born in NC, in fact...)
The biscuit crust interested me, in particular: how did that become the standard, rather than pie crust?
Or is there just not that much difference between them?
M.
I wouldn't say that biscuit crust was the standard, because we ate pies as well as cobblers growing up. Pie tended to be reserved for special occasions, because it took longer to make pie crust (chilling time, rolling thin, fluting edges). A pie didn't serve as many as a cobbler, so you had to make two or three pies if you had a crowd. Cobbler was quicker, since the crust was thicker and didn't require chilling. Cobbler was usually made in a bigger pan, too. We made cobbler when someone bought a bushel of apples or box of peaches at a roadside stand by the orchard, but we might buy fruit at the grocery store for a pie. In my family, cobbler was often less sweet than pie, depending on how much sugar was on hand.
Biscuit crust is great. Cobblers taste better than pies, IMHO, and are easier to make. However, the recipe mamselle linked doesn't have cinnamon sugar on top. I sprinkle cinnamon sugar on all my cobblers before baking. It's the best part. (I do that with muffins too. Are we allowed to mention muffins in this thread?)
Quote from: Liquidambar on February 19, 2021, 08:31:49 PM
Biscuit crust is great. Cobblers taste better than pies, IMHO, and are easier to make. However, the recipe mamselle linked doesn't have cinnamon sugar on top. I sprinkle cinnamon sugar on all my cobblers before baking. It's the best part. (I do that with muffins too. Are we allowed to mention muffins in this thread?)
I see a need for a baking thread in the future...
Interesting cobbler subthread. I've always assembled by cobblers by melting butter in baking dish, then adding dough, and then the cooked peaches. During the baking the dough rises up over the peaches, but is flavoured by the peach syrup. I will have to try the other way too.
Quote from: Liquidambar on February 19, 2021, 08:31:49 PM
(I do that with muffins too. Are we allowed to mention muffins in this thread?)
Only if the muffins are not dry and powdery, please. : )
Ecumenicity allows for a very large umbrella.
Baking is inherent in this discussion.
So are muffins!
"Related questions" can be quite generously defined...
;--》
M.
Quote from: Cheerful on February 21, 2021, 09:19:02 AM
Quote from: Liquidambar on February 19, 2021, 08:31:49 PM
(I do that with muffins too. Are we allowed to mention muffins in this thread?)
Only if the muffins are not dry and powdery, please. : )
Ew. Who likes dry muffins? Betty White had something to say about this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_tVJ2rHHSA (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_tVJ2rHHSA)
Citrus zest added in the cobbler dough is really nice for some of the richer fruits.
Oooh, that's like a very cool pro tip!
Ranks up there with putting cinnamon in cocoa and in beef stew....
Drool..
M.
Lunch today was a slice of thin crust pizza, a scoop of leftover shepherds pie, and a slice of cherry pie, leading to a debate over whether it would be correct to say that we had three kinds of pie for lunch. I argued that we did. Partner opined that shepherd's pie is a casserole, not a pie. Nephew suggested that pizza is closer to sandwich than pie, as it is topped, not filled.
BTW, I'm thinking of crab cakes, flourless chocolate cake, and something else cake-y when Nephew visits next month, to provoke another debate. I'm not having much luck coming up with something that includes fruit or vegetables, though.
Fruit tart?
;-}
ETA: Or, this one, which uses apples and citron as well; I just ran across it!
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/what-is-marlborough-pie
Marlborough pie...might have to try that, too....
M.
Speaking of shepherds pie...
When I was a child, we often had a pie that was filled with cabbage, ground beef, seasonings, and a layer of cream cheese. Is anyone familiar with the name for this recipe? My Google search terms are not coming up with much.
Quote from: Vkw10 on February 21, 2021, 03:24:16 PM
Lunch today was a slice of thin crust pizza, a scoop of leftover shepherds pie, and a slice of cherry pie, leading to a debate over whether it would be correct to say that we had three kinds of pie for lunch. I argued that we did. Partner opined that shepherd's pie is a casserole, not a pie. Nephew suggested that pizza is closer to sandwich than pie, as it is topped, not filled.
BTW, I'm thinking of crab cakes, flourless chocolate cake, and something else cake-y when Nephew visits next month, to provoke another debate. I'm not having much luck coming up with something that includes fruit or vegetables, though.
Potato cakes? Corn cakes?
Quote from: Charlotte on February 21, 2021, 04:35:20 PM
Speaking of shepherds pie...
When I was a child, we often had a pie that was filled with cabbage, ground beef, seasonings, and a layer of cream cheese. Is anyone familiar with the name for this recipe? My Google search terms are not coming up with much.
Have not heard of that one. I've seen recipes where the cream cheese is mixed with the mashed potatoes for the topping, but not a layer of cream cheese on it's own. Was the cream cheese the top layer or was it under a layer of crust/potatoes?
Quote from: Vkw10 on February 21, 2021, 03:24:16 PM
Lunch today was a slice of thin crust pizza, a scoop of leftover shepherds pie, and a slice of cherry pie, leading to a debate over whether it would be correct to say that we had three kinds of pie for lunch. I argued that we did. Partner opined that shepherd's pie is a casserole, not a pie. Nephew suggested that pizza is closer to sandwich than pie, as it is topped, not filled.
BTW, I'm thinking of crab cakes, flourless chocolate cake, and something else cake-y when Nephew visits next month, to provoke another debate. I'm not having much luck coming up with something that includes fruit or vegetables, though.
Carrot cake counts as a vegetable right??
In the Beforetimes I had friends over for an all pie potluck dinner that included various quiches followed by various fruit pies. Pot pies would definitely also have counted but no one made any.
There is (or at least was) a tiny shop in Seattle just called Pie, which just sold pie-- savory pies and sweet pies, in personal sizes so you could have one of each for your meal.
Now I really want pie. I do have green tomato mincemeat pie filling I canned this fall (I picked about 20 lbs of green tomatoes the night before the first frost), so maybe I will make one soon.
These guys have good homemade-on-the-site pies...can't get there now...sigh!
https://petsipies.com/
Mincemeat sounds very good! With what do you flavor it?
M.
Quote from: mamselle on February 21, 2021, 08:45:49 PM
These guys have good homemade-on-the-site pies...can't get there now...sigh!
https://petsipies.com/
Mincemeat sounds very good! With what do you flavor it?
M.
There is no actual meat involved-- it is a mix of green tomatoes, apples, raisons, and spices. An old fashioned recipe for using up green tomatos at the end of the season, but quite good.
Quote from: OneMoreYear on February 21, 2021, 05:35:38 PM
Quote from: Charlotte on February 21, 2021, 04:35:20 PM
Speaking of shepherds pie...
When I was a child, we often had a pie that was filled with cabbage, ground beef, seasonings, and a layer of cream cheese. Is anyone familiar with the name for this recipe? My Google search terms are not coming up with much.
Have not heard of that one. I've seen recipes where the cream cheese is mixed with the mashed potatoes for the topping, but not a layer of cream cheese on it's own. Was the cream cheese the top layer or was it under a layer of crust/potatoes?
We would fill the pie with the cabbage mixture, top it with a layer of cream cheese, and then put a top layer of crust. Delicious. The pie crust would have a yummy bit of cheese on it with some melting into the cabbage mixture as well. It was a very warming, comfort type meal. But I've not seen it since I was a child and I'm not sure if it was a recipe invented by my mother or if it has a name.
Quote from: Charlotte on February 22, 2021, 06:25:56 AM
Quote from: OneMoreYear on February 21, 2021, 05:35:38 PM
Quote from: Charlotte on February 21, 2021, 04:35:20 PM
Speaking of shepherds pie...
When I was a child, we often had a pie that was filled with cabbage, ground beef, seasonings, and a layer of cream cheese. Is anyone familiar with the name for this recipe? My Google search terms are not coming up with much.
Have not heard of that one. I've seen recipes where the cream cheese is mixed with the mashed potatoes for the topping, but not a layer of cream cheese on it's own. Was the cream cheese the top layer or was it under a layer of crust/potatoes?
We would fill the pie with the cabbage mixture, top it with a layer of cream cheese, and then put a top layer of crust. Delicious. The pie crust would have a yummy bit of cheese on it with some melting into the cabbage mixture as well. It was a very warming, comfort type meal. But I've not seen it since I was a child and I'm not sure if it was a recipe invented by my mother or if it has a name.
I have a vegetarian cookbook from the 70s or so (falling apart), which has a wonderful recipe for a Russian Vegetable pie, which sounds similar to what you describe. The pie crust has cream cheese in it, which makes it so soft and pliable and tangy and delicious (I should use it for other pies, it occurs to me!), and then there's a layer of cream cheese on the bottom crust, then sliced hard-boiled eggs, then sauteed cabbage + onion, then a top crust. It's really best if it's allowed to set after baking (otherwise the layers all collapse when you slice it), but it's wonderful the next day, and very good cold too.
I was going to say either Irish or Eastern European, with the cabbage...so Russian makes sense, too...
Everything spicy is better after a night in the refrigerator, the spices distribute better in the cold....
Sounds yummy!
M.