Zach B., Yale University
Strawberry Rhubarb Pie:
Category Archives: pie
Pics or it Didn’t Happen: Sour Cream and Raisin Pie
Zach Bell, Yale University
Back in December 2010, I baked a raisin pie and commented on its usage as a “funeral pie.” Upon some further research into a variation, the sour cream and raisin pie, I found that it also originated among Mennonites settling in the Great Plains, quickly spreading to other local communities. Funerals in the mid to late nineteenth century were opportunities for the community to gather and express hospitality. This hospitality often arrived as edibles, and especially as dessert. Guests and relatives would bring food to show their sympathy and condolences. A funeral staple was the raisin pie (and other improvised variations) , a dessert that could be quickly made out of readily available ingredients.
Filed under Food, Pics or it Didn't Happen, pie, Recipes, Zach B.
Blueberry Pie with Sweet Corn Ice Cream
by The Baker
[Jason]: A pie for the end of school and the start of summer. This recipe makes me want to chill out with a slice of Ace of Cake’s new EP, The Bakery.
Blueberry Pie with Sweet Corn Ice Cream Continue reading
Filed under College Life, pie, Recipes, The Baker
Pics or it Didn’t Happen: Key Lime Pie… with Gingerbread Crust
Zach Bell, Yale University
Traditionally thought of as a summer dessert, in my opinion key lime pie can be served at any time of the year. In order to make the pie a little more appropriate for the temperature though (despite an unusually warm December in St. Louis), I put the filling in a gingerbread crust.
Filed under Pics or it Didn't Happen, pie, Yale, Zach B.
The Evolution of Pumpkin Pie
Zach Bell, Yale University
This fall, the Museum of Modern Art in New York City put on a seven-decade retrospective of Willem de Kooning. His work ranged from early abstractions, to the more recognizable (and now more famous) “Woman” series, to calligraphic color experimentation. Throughout his career though, de Kooning’s work focused on his process. He painted and drew only to scrape down and erase, constantly revising, searching for a finished product. In his process of constant adjustment, de Kooning was cooking. He started with a foundation idea and tweaked it so many times that the image evolved into a reflection of his working mind. De Kooning approached his work the same way a chef would approach a recipe, and the same way I make pumpkin pie.
Pics or it Didn’t Happen: Lemon Meringue Pie
Zach Bell, Yale University
A staple of American dessert culture is the lemon meringue pie. Although lemon flavored desserts and custards have been in use since medieval times, the lemon meringue pie as we know it did not emerge until the nineteenth century. For my lemon pie, I used a recipe that originated a bit more recently. My recipe came from my great-grandmother’s cookbook, dating from the early to mid- twentieth century. Although I only have vague memories of her, and none of her lemon pie, I hear stories of her baking virtuosity. So I decided to test out her recipe and see if I inherited some of her baking genes.
Pics or it Didn’t Happen: Chicken Pot Pie
Zach Bell, Yale University
Savory food isn’t really my thing. When it come to meals, I’m pretty much exclusively the dessert chef/procurer. Yet, in my exploration of pie it was inevitable that I would one day have to face the meat pie. Meat pies have a long history, tracing back millenia, with many theories about its various uses. Scholars believe that medieval meat pies were more like casseroles, with a much thicker pastry acting as the cooking container and preserving mechanism. From the Greeks to the Romans to the Middle Ages, the pastry was not meant to be eaten. Over time, the crust grew lighter and flakier until today when the historically “inedible” crust separates a pot pie from a meat stew.
