United States of Pie: Regional Favorites from East to West and North to Southby Adrienne Kane
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
My husband loves pie, which is why he got this book for Christmas. It is full of out-of-the-ordinary pie recipes many of which sound delicious. It also includes background info on the various pies and essays about regional pie makers to start each chapter. The directions for making the pies are clear and the sidebars on unusual ingredients and how to make component parts of the recipes (if you want to render your own lard, or make your own pumpkin puree, this book tells you how) are informative. The chapter about making pie crust makes it sound do-able. I liked Kane's philosophy that even a less-than-perfect pie is a learning experience and probably still going to be delicious.
The first pie I baked from this book was Chipmunk Pie, which was delicious. It is a recipe from Delaware and my pantry included all the ingredients for it. I didn't make my own crust, I used a Pillsbury ready-make crust from the freezer. The recipe calls for 1/2 cup of chopped nuts and I used 3/4 cup. I only had pecans on hand, but I think this recipe would be a great use of the little bits of various nuts (hazelnuts, pecans, almonds, etc.) that I sometimes end up with after holiday baking.
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| Chipmunk Pie, recipe from United States of Pie |
I have this cookbook -- I really need to take a closer look at it. That pie looks yummy.
ReplyDeleteChipmunk Pie. Since my daughter's friends call nicknamed her Chipmunk, I got a chuckle out of that name. I have never made my own pie crust. I bet this book has some great ones to try.
ReplyDeleteI've never heard of Chipmunk Pie, either! I like the sound of this book - pies are a recent specialty of mine. Thanks for sharing!
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