Top 5: The American Pie

TOP
5
Top 5
The American Pie Invented by the Brits in the Middle Ages, the modern pie has been wholeheartedly
co-opted by Americans. Pull off at any roadside diner or farm stand, and you’re bound to find the freshbaked pastry. Here’s where to tuck into some authentic standouts:
!
P R ESS BU T TO N S FO R R EC I P ES
1
BLUEBERRY PIE › Wild blueberries have adapted well to the harsh winters of Downeast Maine—the swath of coast from Penobscot Bay to the
Canadian border. Helen’s Restaurant in Machias uses a blend of fresh
and cooked berries. (phone 207-255-8423)
2
CHESS PIE › A tribute to the resourcefulness of Southern cooks, it’s
traditionally made with whatever is in the larder, such as sugar, eggs,
buttermilk, and vanilla. Dixie Supply Bakery & Café in Charleston, South
Carolina, adds cornmeal. Shipping available. www.dixiecafecharleston.com
M AC H I A S , M A I N E
HELEN’S
BLUEBERRY PIE
2
9-inch pie crusts
1
quart fresh or frozen wild Maine blueberries
1
teaspoon flour
3
KEY LIME PIE › More tart and perishable than its grocery-store cousin,
the Key lime that grows throughout Florida’s island chain is the one ingredient on which everybody agrees. Pepe’s Café in Key West gets raves
for its deconstructed concoction in a bowl. www.pepescafe.net
1
cup sugar
1⁄4
teaspoon cinnamon
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix berries and dry ingredients, pour into un-
4
MARIONBERRY PIE › The result of cross-breeding blackberries in the
1950s, marionberries are the pride of Oregon, serving as state ambassadors in jellies and jams. The pie, however, is best consumed with a scoop
of ice cream at the Bipartisan Café in Portland. www.bipartisancafe.com
5
SOUR CHERRY PIE › Sour cherries don’t travel as well as the ubiquitous
bings. Sample them along the northern coastlines of Michigan and Wisconsin, where they are at their best inside a buttery crust from Sweetie
Pies in Fish Creek, Wisconsin. Shipping available. www.doorcountypies.com
baked pie shell. Seal with top crust and carve a “B” on the top as a vent. Bake for
one hour on a baking sheet. Serves 6-8. Recipe from Helen’s Restaurant.
PHOTOS: MIKE DAVIS (LEFT). MARK THIESSEN/NGS
PIE THROW! In 2007 more than
400 participants in Grapevine,
Texas, hurled 1,200 pies to
capture the Guinness World
Record for the largest pie fight.
Portland’s Bipartisan Café.
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STORY BY MARGARET LOFTUS; RESEARCH BY GIOVANNA PALATUCCI
Top 5 The American Pie
C H A R L E S T O N, S O U T H C A RO L I N A
K E Y W E S T, F L O R I DA
DIXIE’S
CHESS PIE
PEPE’S
KEY LIME PIE
1
9-inch pie crust
¼ cup melted butter
1
prepared 8- or 9-inch graham-cracker crust shell
2
cups granulated sugar
¼ cup whole milk
4
egg yolks
2
tablespoons cornmeal
¼ cup lemon juice
2
egg whites
1
tablespoon white all-purpose flour
3
1
14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
4
eggs
teaspoons lemon zest
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix sugar, cornmeal, and flour together well.
Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in butter, milk,
lemon juice, and lemon zest. Pour mixture into pie crust. Bake for 45 minutes.
Serves 6-8. Family recipe from Dixie Supply Bakery & Café.
PHOTO: FOODFOLIO/ALAMY
1⁄2 cup Key lime juice, fresh or bottled
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a bowl, beat egg whites until stiff. Set aside. In
another bowl, beat egg yolks well. Add sweetened condensed milk to yolks and
continue beating. Slowly add lime juice. Fold egg whites into egg yolk mixture
with a spatula; the mixture should be even. Pour mixture into the pie crust.
Bake for about 20 minutes or until just set. Cool completely before refrigerating.
Refrigerate at least two hours. Just before serving, top each slice with whipped
PIE PLANNER January 23 is National Pie Day, according
to the American Pie Council. Among more than a dozen
other lip-licking dates: National Lemon Meringue
Pie Day (pie pictured here)
on August 15, and
National Strawberry-Rhubarb
Pie Day on
June 9.
cream. Serves 6-8. Recipe from Pepe’s Café.
PHOTO: KATE MATHIS/GETTY IMAGES
IT’S OFFICIAL
Who needs a state bird
when you’ve got a state
pie? Six U.S. states
have them, including
Florida (Key lime pie) and
Oklahoma (pecan pie).
Top 5 The American Pie
FISH CREEK,
WISCONSIN
P O RT L A N D,
OREGON
BIPARTISAN’S
MARIONBERRY PIE
2
SWEETIE’S SOUR
CHERRY PIE
2
9-inch pie crusts
4
cups Montmorency frozen cherries (thawed, with juice drained)
⅓ cup sugar
9-inch pie crusts
5 1⁄2 cups marionberries (fresh or frozen)
1⁄4 cup flour
3⁄4 cup sugar
1⁄6 cup tapioca flour
¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon flour
2 tablespoons butter, cut into pats
1
tablespoon whole milk
Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Mix together sugar, flour, and tapioca in a bowl.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine berries, sugar, and flour. Pour into pie
Sprinkle about ¼ cup of the dry mix on the pie crust bottom. Add a little over 2
shell. Roll out top crust, place over the pie, fold, and crimp the edges. Cut a vent
cups cherries. Sprinkle about ½ cup of the dry mix over the cherries and add
on top of the pie and brush with milk. Bake for one hour, or until top is golden
pats of butter. Add remaining cherries. Place top crust and crimp the edges,
brown. Cool two hours before serving. Serves 6-8. Recipe from Bipartisan Café.
trimming if necessary. Do not pierce top crust. Brush top with milk and sprinkle
PHOTO: MIKE DAVIS
with sugar. Bake for two hours or until top is golden brown. Serves 6.
Recipe from Sweetie Pies.
PHOTO: PETER GARBET/GETTY IMAGES
ALL AMERICAN A ’70s Chevy ad popularized it,
BATTLEGROUND STATE Traverse City,
but the expression “as American as apple pie” likely
harkens back to colonial times when English
subjects were encouraged to plant apple trees. Today’s
iconic pastry overflowing with apples is an apt
metaphor for American abundance.
Michigan, eclipsed neighboring Charlevoix
to claim the national title of largest
cherry pie (at 17 feet, 6 inches in diameter) in
1987. Today, the country’s largest pie pan is
a roadside attraction just off US-31.
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