I've finally hit a road block in my cooking endeavors here in TX. I have utterly failed in the realm of pies. See, for the first time, I attempted to make a couple the other night. Yes, starting at night. Which might have been my first problem. I set the smoke alarm off twice sometime around 12:30am, turned the oven off without realizing it while attempting to set the timer, forgot to poke holes in the second set of pie crusts until halfway through the cooking time so they nearly exploded, and wound up annoyed enough with the whole process that I opted for playing a game of Age of Empires as a short break between attempts.
Final result: going to bed at...
5 in the morning, and waking up with..
4 failed pie crusts
3 hours of sleep
2 burnt fingers
1 batch of pie filling that I did, in the end, figure out what to do with
0 actual pies
But I can make a wonderful pineapple dessert.
I have high hopes for trying again, but before then, I have other things on my list, such as zucchini bread, cream puffs, and starting my own cooking show (Food Network, 3am; stay tuned! sure to become a favorite of nighttime chefs everywhere). And maybe a couple more games of AoE. Now that I know other people are playing regularly around here, I need to keep my skills up...
Monday, August 06, 2007
Domesticities
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1 comment:
Secrets to good pie crust:
1) Real lard. Vegetable shortenings melt into the crust too soon. Lard will melt as it bakes, making that flaky texture we all aim for.
2) Don't over mix it - because it'll melt the lard and result in a gummy, uniformly crumbly crust.
3) Flour is your friend when rolling. So is waxed paper placed underneath for ease of transfer.
3) Always pierce the crust. ;-) My mom used tiny cookie cutters to make fun holes in the top crust.
4) Preheat the oven well.
5) Use a timer.
6) If all else fails, buy the crust and just focus on the filling!
7) Whipped cream covers a multitude of pie making sins.
:-)
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