It is time for summer pie. First it is strawberry-rhubarb, then strawberry, then raspberry, now cherry, and soon the Queen of Pies - peach pie. Did you learn to make pie crust? I was lucky that my friend Janet had a mother who constantly made pies. My mother constantly made German streusel cakes - sweet raised yeast bread with fruit and sugar butter crumb toppings. And those breakfast rolls with butter, brown sugar and cinnamon all gooey together. Consider these two desserts together and you can see how we lived a sugary sweet existence, blissfully ignorant of the health problems to make the news in later decades.
Why are pies round and cakes square? Because they are. There is an explanation on Quora that comes up first. It is based on the pie plate being easier to make round. That would be the same for cakes. Quora is great to read, but don't consider it information.
What makes a pie a pie? A crust - even though there are crustless pies. Think of the expression 'crustless pie' and you understand that a pie and crust go together.
Wikipedia's entry on pies is rich with information with delightful pictures of mouth-watering savoury and dessert variations. I looked through the list of pies and the stargazy pie got my attention. Not a happy result, though, as it is a Cornish dish made with baked sardines, eggs and potatoes. There are fish heads protruding through the crust, apparently so that they appear to be gazing skyward. I couldn't make this up - take a look HERE.
Should we make square pies instead of round? The Atlantic has a remarkably entertaining article on this topic. The Case for Squared Pie is HERE. Dan Pashman is the author of the book Eat more Better: How to Make Every Bite More Delicious and says that the square pie has more deliciousness - where the crust turns the corner in the pan is where the flavour from the filling is absorbed into the crust while maintaining toothsinkability. He's done the arithmetic on this. Sounds heavenly to me.
Out of the thousands of pie jokes, here are just two:
Q: Why did the pumpkin pie go to a dentist? A: Because it needed a filling.
Q: What do you get if you cross a train engine with an blueberry pie? A: Puff pastry
Here's today's Prayer Plant image. I am fascinated by the textures within these abstract shapes.
