I love a pretty pie, but as a pie judge for the past 30-plus years, I’ve learned that many pies hide their craveable flavors under a fairly plain top crust. There are always some pastry beauties in every contest with a lacy lattice top that peek-a-boos the local fruit inside, whether cherries, peaches or raspberries. Some have been wonderful, but I have been burned by these beauties.
Badly.
There was this pie I judged a couple of years ago at a local pie contest. My fellow judges remarked about how attractive this cherry pie was with its intricate lattice and brightly hued filling. “I hope it tastes as good as it looks,” one said beforehand.
Hope turned to horror with one bite. This was a pie with a problem. The lattice had an odd yellowish hue and was tough, chewy and tasted “off.” The filling was actually a pool of crimson liquid awash in cherries that hadn’t set and tasted worse than the crust. It was, bar none, the worst pie I have ever tasted in my life. I insisted that it not be sold by the slice. I still cringe at the memory.
However, when done right, a criss-crossed lattice top can catch the eye and produce perfect, toasted strips of tasty pastry poached in fruit. I asked a professional pie-maker for tips on making a lattice if you are entering one of the many local contests in the next month.
“The key word for pastry is cold,” says Karen DeVincenzo. Known as “The Pie Lady,” her pies can be found at the Jamestown Mercantile Café.
“I cut the butter up into bits before putting it in the freezer, usually the day before I plan to mix up the dough. I make the dough in the food processor, adding the butter to the flour right out of the freezer. Add the ice-cold water to it in a bowl and mix it in with a fork, just enough to coat the flour. Don’t over-mix. Wrapped in plastic wrap, it goes into the fridge awhile for more chilling before it is rolled out. For the lattice, cut the pastry strips and store cold until ready to use.”
The local scratch-made pie contest season is upon us. If you’re not ready to enter a pie just yet, attend a contest and see what top pies look like. Whole winning pies are often auctioned off for a good cause and slices are sold. I love seeing the look on bakers’ faces when they win, especially the kids.
First up is the second annual Open Pie Baking Contest Aug. 2 at the Adams County Fair in Brighton. This one is for “fruit pies only, no cream, custard or meringue pies. No cream cheese icing or fillings.”
The winning pie auction benefits the Adams County 4-H. Details: adamscountyfair.com
I’m judging pies Aug. 4 at the Hay Days Pie Contest at Hygiene Methodist Church. The day of family fun includes a dinner with lawn games, a concert, a pie auction and individual pie slices available à la mode. Contest categories include apple, peach and other (which includes other fruits, nuts and berries). No cream pies. First prize is $100. There is a category for kid bakers under 14. Details: hygienecommunityassociation.org.
The 49th Carnation Festival Aug. 10 at Anderson Park in Wheat Ridge features a pancake breakfast, spaghetti dinner, chili cook-off and a new pie baking contest. The contest welcomes any scratch-made, single- or double-crust dessert pie made with fruit, berries and nuts. Details: thecarnationfestival.com
I’m also judging at the annual Louisville Homemade Pie Contest at Memory Square Park on Labor Day, one of the biggest and best pie contests in Colorado. Prizes are awarded in three categories: apple, fruit, and nut and cream pies. The competing pies are sold by the slice. Details: thehuckleberry.com.
The Boulder County Fair Aug. 5-12 in Longmont includes an open pie baking category, and food-related events include a local distillery festival and a Boulder County farm-to-table dinner. Details: bouldercountyfair.org
P.S.: You’ve heard of the tiny house trend. There are now folks baking tiny pies — 3 inches across — in the rings and lids from small-mouth Mason jars. You do it with the jar lid in the ring upside down so sealing compound faces away from the crust.
Local food news
The Shake It Up: Cocktails and Cuisine event Aug. 7 at Boulder Brands is a local food celebration with small bites from Blackbelly, Bramble and Hare, Emmerson, Pastificio heirloom grain pasta company and Fortuna Chocolate. Corrida’s Bryan Dayton heads up a cocktail-making demo with beverages mixed with local Cocktail Punk bitters, Bougie Syrups and spirits from Altitude, Anvil, Deviant Spirits and Dry Land distilleries. Proceeds benefit the 2018 Flatirons Food Film Festival (which will include a tribute to Anthony Bourdain). flatironsfoodfilmfest.org. … Lafayette’s Liquid Mechanics Brewing won three medals at the 2018 U.S. Open Beer Championship including golds for Beasts of Bourbon — a blended barrel-aged beer, and Amber Altbier.
Taste of the week
With walls of condiments and sauces on supermarket shelves it was hard to imagine a new one that actually fills a need. The Garlic and Pepper Extra-Virgin Olive Oil from Look Out Here I Come is that kind of handy condiment. The Boulder-made product is four ingredients: extra-virgin Spanish olive oil infused with garlic, jalapeño and habanero chilies. It’s great on bread, in salad dressing, drizzled on hummus, and ideal for quick sautéing fresh spinach, broccoli raab, shellfish or chicken. This oil manages to be savory without including salt, full of garlic flavor without harshness and has distinct chile flavor notes minus any bud-scorching Scoville Units. Five-ounce bottles of the oil are available at Alfalfa’s Market and local Safeway stores.
Words to chew on
“The homemade pie has been under siege for a century, and surely its survival is endangered.” — from Pie: A Global History by Janet Clarkson
John Lehndorff is the former Chief Judge at the National Pie Championships. He hosts Radio Nibbles on KGNU. Podcasts: news.kgnu.org/category/radio-nibbles
