Some cookbooks transport you to exotic places, where the world is scented with unfamiliar spices and foreign phrases fall in staccato bursts on the ear. Patty Pinner's new book, "Sweety Pies" (Taunton Press, 2007), wraps you up like a warm, floury apron and transports you to a cinnamon-scented kitchen, where the low hum of women's voices comforts like the thrum of the oil furnace on a cold morning.
 Patty Pinner says her grandmother's hands "were at their best when rolling out pie dough." Here is her from-scratch apple pie. Photo credit: Photograph by Alexandra Grablewski for "Sweety Pies" by Patty Pinner (Taunton Press, 2007) |
"Mama was a great storyteller," writes Pinner. "Most of her stories were about other women: happy women, sad women, affluent women, poor women, smart women and foolish women - black and white."
They include Cousin Cal, a member of "The Velvettes," a "1960s girly singing group," who "can strut right off a stage and straight into a kitchen - still wearing sequins and feather boas - and make the transition look easy." There's Miss Claudette, who "got around," and Miss Carlean, owner of a glamorous beauty parlor who "put you in mind of a bronze Sophia Loren." There's Miss Beatrice, "one of the best cooks at Mercy Temple Church" in Elizabethtown, Ky. And there's Miss Alberta Beasley, whose "feminine nature was so strong, not even her assembly-line job at the car factory could suppress it ... (she stood out) like a tube of red lipstick in an auto mechanic's toolbox."
And then there's Mama, a homebody who made everything from scratch, hung her wash out in the fresh air and still starched and ironed her sheets. Mama knew how to keep her man, how to keep her house and how to keep her friendships. As the book shows, she knew how to raise a keenly observant daughter who ate up her mother's proffered advice just as she did her peach-custard pie.
"When I started writing this, I began hearing the voices of Mama and her friends and her sisters," Pinner, a postal worker in Saginaw, Mich., said in a recent phone interview. "Something just came alive." She worked from her mother's annotated recipes and from the journals that she, Pinner, kept from the age of 14.
What came alive are Mama and her cohorts, and a host of run-to-the-kitchen-and-try-this-out-right-now recipes. They are all part of this run-to-the-bookstore-and-buy-this-right-now cookbook.
Cook's note: Making piecrust is an art too lengthy to describe in the space here. Use your favorite recipe.
GRANDMOTHER'S HANDMADE APPLE PIE
dough for a 9-inch double-crust pie
8 Golden Delicious apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2-1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 small egg, beaten together with 1 teaspoon water (optional)
1/4 teaspoon each sugar and ground cinnamon, mixed together (optional)
Preheat the oven to 375 F. On a lightly floured surface, roll out half the dough to fit a 9-inch pie plate with a 1-inch overhang. Line the pie plate. Refrigerate the crust and the remaining dough (for the top) until needed.
Place the apples in a bowl and sprinkle with lemon juice, then toss lightly to coat. In another bowl, combine both sugars, the flour, spices and salt, and sprinkle this over the apples. Toss the apples until well coated. Pour the apples into the prepared crust, then dot with the butter. Roll the remaining dough out on a lightly floured surface, and place it over the apples. Trim the edges, pinch them together and flute them.
Gather together the dough scraps and roll them out. Using a cookie cutter, cut out small shapes, or press pretty designs in the dough using the decorative end of an old thread spool sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. If you like, brush the back of each cutout with the egg wash, then lay the cutout on the crust, moistened-side down. Cut slits in the top to allow steam to escape. If you like, sprinkle the cinnamon-sugar mixture over the top.
Bake until the filling is bubbly and the crust golden brown, 50 to 60 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack for about 30 minutes to let the juices settle before serving. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Yield: one 9-inch pie, or about 8 slices
Recipe from "Sweety Pies: An Uncommon Collection of Womanish Observations, with Pie" by Patty Pinner (Taunton Press, 2007)
COUSIN CADLIN'S SWEET-POTATO PIE
3 hand-sized sweet potatoes
dough for a 1-crust, 9-inch pie
2 large eggs
1-1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon lemon extract
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup evaporated milk
Place the potatoes in a medium-size saucepan, cover generously with water, bring to a boil and cook until fork-tender. Drain and allow to cool.
Preheat the oven to 350 F. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the dough to fit a 9-inch pie plate. Line the pie plate; trim and flute the edges of the pie. Set aside.
Peel the potatoes and mash them in a large bowl until no lumps remain. Using a fork, remove any strings from the filling (if using an electric mixer, remove any strings that may have collected around the beaters). Add the eggs, sugar, lemon extract, nutmeg and salt, and mix together until thoroughly blended and smooth. Add the melted butter and evaporated milk and beat until creamy. Pour the filling into the prepared piecrust.
Bake until the center is set (it should not jiggle when the pie is gently rocked back and forth) and the crust is golden brown, about 45 minutes. Let cool completely on a wire rack. Serve at room temperature, as is or garnished with whipped cream or pecan halves if desired.
Yield: one 9-inch pie, or at least 8 slices
OATMEAL-NUT PIE
dough for a 1-crust, 9-inch pie
4 large eggs, well beaten
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon maple-flavored extract
1/4 cup dark corn syrup
1/4 cup quick-cooking oats
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
Preheat the oven to 350 F. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the dough to fit a 9-inch pie plate. Line the pie plate; trim and flute the edges of the pie. Set aside.
In a large bowl, combine the eggs, both sugars, the butter and milk until well mixed. Stir in the flour, extracts and corn syrup until well mixed. Blend in the oats, pecans and coconut. Pour the filling into the piecrust.
Bake until the filling is nice and golden, 45 to 50 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Yield: one 9-inch pie, or at least 8 slices
Recipe from "Sweety Pies: An Uncommon Collection of Womanish Observations, with Pie" by Patty Pinner (Taunton Press, 2007)
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