Produce Aisle Smackdown!
I've mentioned before my extreme pie-snobbery. I've tried to temper this with the understanding that the pie you grow up with is the pie you like. This will explain my friend's request for one of my Thanksgiving party pies to be a Granny Smith.
I don't even like to eat a Granny Smith straight up - far too tart for my taste. My favorite apple of all time is the mighty Macintosh. Sweet and juicy, to eat it fresh is a slurpy, sloppy experience. It makes a mind-blowing pie, in my personal opinion. Mushy and gooey apple pie goodness.
But I promised to make a Granny Smith for my friend, but I'm doing a crumb topping with the hope some of the butter and sugar will take some of the edge off. She said she likes it tart, so who am I to judge?
My problem is, there are no Macs this year. At least not any making it out of apple growing country. MomH warned me months ago that it was a bad year in Michigan for them.
So there I am today in the grocery store, scratching my head over what other apple pie I want to make besides Granny Smith. BTW - I'm making at least one blueberry because that's my favorite pie ever. Every other blueberry pie made not by me or immediate family members is made of pie filling. Blech. People. Listen. A real blueberry pie is.not.hard. Gelatinous blueberry pie filling is an abomination.
But I digress. Back to the produce aisle.
I'm on the phone with MomH going over my apple choices. She's searching her most trusted cookbooks for a listing of baking apples. She's not having any luck so says, "Any apple should be fine. Except for Delicious. Never a Delicious for baking."
I hang up and a cute guy who was lingering near the apple stand says. "Delicious. They are great for pie."
Me, with a WTF look on my face: "What? No. Never Delicious."
Woman with kids: "Always Delicious! That's the only kind I use for pie. Go get 10 apples for me, Junior."
If her small child wasn't standing next to me getting the apples, I would have screamed out "What kind of pie hell do you people live in?!?!?!?"
Instead, I stood there with a look of disgust on my face and said, "I've never heard until this minute anyone using Delicious for a pie. But then again, I use Macs and they aren't available so I suppose any apple will be fine."
She say my bright green apple stash in my cart and sniped, "Well, I don't like Granny Smiths. They are too tart."
I felt like saying "They are a friend's favorite, but there's no accounting for some people's tastes." But I didn't. I just wished her luck with her pies in a more condescending manner than was necessary.
On my way out to the parking lot, I called MomH and gave her the play-by-play recount of the action. She thought it was pretty funny and added, "Not everyone has been fortunate enough to have experienced what a really good pie tastes like. They aren't as fussy as those of us who have."
We agreed we should feel pity more than scorn for those uneducated in great fruit pie. When I'm Queen of the World, everyone gets great pie!
Comments
You can talk apple smack as much as you want - just don't question me on pumpkin cheescake.
You'd get on well with my dad - it's not that he prefers one type of apple, but it's just that he's very democratic about his apple choices. He's very open-minded.
Delicious! the most misnamed apple ever!
I found some Macs this year (they're my favorite too) but they baked down to mush in the shell--of course that could be user error! I like to mix Macs and Granny Smiths, they play well together. I haven't tried an all-Granny Smith pie, but if any apple pie is supposed to go with cheddar cheese, I imagine that one would.
Since Macs aren't available, what about Fuji or Gala? Maybe mixing Golden Delicious with the Granny Smiths?
You're never going to want to meet me, are you?
I live in NE apple country. People use that bastard Delicious fake-apple because there's nothing else in their experience. Macs turn to mush--that's why they make good applesauce. Granny Smiths are probably the only commercially available apple that will hold up to cooking. That's why folks like them. (We have Macs galore still...)
A great apple pie, like a great applesauce, should have layers of apple-y goodness which comes from combining apples. Cortlands are excellent baking apples--they're sweet and hold their shape. If you can get Cortlands, combine them with Granny Smiths for tartness and Macs for creaminess. Paula Reds are also excellent bakiing apples, if you have them out there...
Save a piece for me!! I LOVE PIES.
Jaypo & PoT - thanks for the apple-mixing tips. Since I have enough Granny Smiths for two pies (I kept adding another apple to my bag 'just in case'), I'll make one 100% GS with the crumb topping, and the other I'll mix GS with the Cameos. I'll eat a Cameo ahead of time to test it's juicy/sweet factor. Must have quality control process in place, after all!
I don't like cooked fruit of any kind, but I will give you mad props for:
What kind of pie hell do you people live in?!?!?!?"
How could anybody question a pumpkin cheesecake? That sounds heavenly.
BUT NEVER DELICIOUS - those apples are bred for color, not flavor. They have no flavor!!
Like Aubrey, I also kick butt at pumpkin cheesecake - it's my most requested.
And if I can make a blueberry pie from scratch, anyone can!
Ooh, caramel candies. That sounds great. I should experiment. Nothing like taking experimental food to a party! :-D
Because I don't know how the cameos will turn out, I think I'll mix them with the Granny Smiths. I'll do one straight GS, the other a combo. Or maybe both a combo.
I'm sure your blueberry pie is scrumptious! Making a blueberry pie from scratch is no harder than opening a can of that blueberry filling crap. Just 4 cups of blueberries, mix in with some flour, sugar, cinnamon and a little pat of butter. That's all there is to it!
Granny Smith is teh yuck. People who claim they're the "only way" have simply grown up deprived of decent apples, either personally or culturally. I guess you have to put them in pie since they're too sour to eat. Although I had a nice wine made from some -- you want tartness in wine.
My backyard apples will be featuring in this year's dinner. The last of the season.
We need to get you some more pie experiences.
But interesting of you to mention Golden Delicious. That's what the woman was picking up so I thought maybe they were different from the Red and perhaps they were okay.
I'm not a Granny Smith fan, as noted, but I had a request. Since I can't use the Macintosh (which Granny Smith fans don't like - too sweet and mushy), I'm kind of at a loss. So I'll make do with what I have and enjoy my blueberry pie. Hopefully by the time the desserts roll out no one will be too picky.
I've had GS wine before. I was in northern Wisconsin with my cousin who happens to be a chef. The serving suggestion was to pair with a grilled cheese sandwich. I asked her if that means this was a luncheon wine or if a grilled cheese sandwich was a dinner entree. I personally could go either way with it. She just laughed and said, "We like our grilled cheese fancy up here in the North Woods, dontcha know."
btw: I used kitchen scissors to cut the caramels. It's a pain in the ass - though probably easier if you think to flour the scissors. i'm guessing that caramel dip would be an interesting option too.
I walked over to Williams-Sonoma at lunch to see if they had a pie carrier contraption thingie. They didn't, but I did see a sample recipe for an apple pie. It mixed GS with Macs, and there was white cheddar cheese in the crust dough. I thought that was interesting. So interesting it sounded hard and I put the free recipe card back where I found it.
I like baking pies, but not THAT much. My life is challenging enough as it is. I don't need a challenge in the kitchen.
I've never had apple pie with cheese. I'd save that for the tart pies. The sweet apple pies are perfect as is.
speaking of macintosh... have you ever had the drink "washington apple"?? it tastes very similar to a macintosh apple!
Also, grilled cheese sammiches are appropriate for any time of day or night, and wine is perfect with lunch or dinner (or even brunch).
I'm presuming my apple tree is a Red Delicious; they look more like that than anything else, but as I am not the original owner, I don't know. Here's one of my apples. Nom.
I'm thinking it's some sort of Mac cross or mutant, of which there seem to be a lot of. Cortland, Macoun, so many to choose from. It does behave exactly like the Macoun article says.
Probably need a botanist and a DNA sequencer to be certain. But I can say it's not a Red Delicious for sure.
It REALLY also looks and sounds like a Fuji. Matches picture and description, and size. Is it most honorable apple-san?
Eh, not really important. They're red and big and tasty and free.
Tasty and free are the best kind!
Macs tend to have a lot of green on them, kind of a mix of bright red and bright green, really round shape.
The apple orchards around where I grew up were a lot of Jonathans. I don't see them in my Arizona stores much, either.
My co-worker grew up in Washington State and she used to be an apple judge at fairs. I'll have her take a look at yours and see what she thinks. She also made a scrunched up face when I told her my supermarket story. "Delicious aren't good for anything but mass production."
Then she quickly added, "If that's the only apple you know, then well, that's all you know." We're all apple apologists!
Whatever you have, it looks and sounds fantastic. Old fashioned heritage apples tend to be pretty small and majorly discolored, but tasty. I think you have a modern apple, but not sure what one.
Do you have an Extension office in the area? You can ask them and they'll find out for you.
Now I must go eat one.
I wish I had an apple tree. :-(
You win at fruit!