So I made an apple pie over the weekend, and I didn't tell JW I was doing so. He hates feeling left out, but I was making this pie for my boss and coworker.
The pie came out great... except for one pretty major thing, which my coworker discovered, and remarked upon, the moment he cut into the pie.
"Everything's swimmin' around down there," my coworker said as he cut into the pie. It took me a second to realize what the problem was. Why would the pie's filling be so runny? I openly mused about whether it was the type of apples I had used. Then it hit me: flour. I'd forgotten to add the fucking flour. Two heaping tablespoons of flour—which acts as a thickener, combining with the water from the apples—was the difference between ultimate victory and ultimate disaster. You can see some of the runniness below:
So I tilted the pie tin and scooped out all the runny (but oh-so-delicious) fluid that had collected at the bottom of the pie and the bottom of the tin. All the runniness went into a waiting bowl, and then I punished myself by drinking the whole thing down. Truth be told, it wasn't much of a punishment: the liquidy part of the filling tasted damn good. And so did the rest of the pie, really: everything tasted just fine; it was the filling's texture that was lacking. My coworker was a good sport about the whole thing, even helping himself to a second serving. The crust came out perfectly, at least, so I didn't have to worry about that. The idiot-proof pie-dough recipe strikes again.
Here's the piece I sliced for myself, post-drainage:
My coworker asked me an interesting question: what about par-cooking the apples before pouring the filling into the pie crust so as to have super-soft apples at the end of the bake? I told him that I had followed the classic recipe, which calls for putting the apples into the pie raw. After about an hour of baking, the apples come out fully cooked through, but they still retain a tiny bit of firmness and crunch—a reminder of their former freshness. I told my coworker that I do like the gooey texture of cooked-to-death apples, and that I've done apple pies with filling that's been par-cooked on the stove before it goes into the pie shell. I promised both my boss and my coworker that I'd bake a "redemption" pie to be served this coming Friday; I won't forget the flour this time, and I'll probably par-cook the apple filling before putting it into the shell for baking.
The only excuse I have for the lack-of-flour fuckup is senility. I had certainly meant to put flour into the filling. I simply had a senior moment and forgot. Mea maxima culpa.
It looks damn good, that's for sure. Bring some vanilla ice cream on Friday and serve it French-style. You know, a la mode. *ahem*
ReplyDeleteAs to your supposed senility, I forgot what I was going to say about that.
We all forget the flour sometimes. The other day I forgot to add the salt when making my morning oatmeal. I had never realized what a difference it made until I left it out. (Although I use corn starch in my pies, as opposed to flour.)
ReplyDeleteAs for par-boiling, I've never tried that--but, then again, I do generally like my filling to have a little bit of bite. I wonder if slicing the apples thinner might have a similar effect as par-boiling, but without the extra step. It probably won't be completely gooey, but it might be an interesting compromise.
John & Charles (Jean-Charles?),
ReplyDeleteIt was so painful. Every other aspect of the pie was damn near perfect.
John: I probably will bring ice cream. As much as I liked this pie, I felt it needed some vanilla accompaniment.
Charles: yeah, cornstarch works great as a thickener. To be clear, I wasn't talking about par-boiling, specifically, but about par-cooking the apples in a bokkeum-pan along with the sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, lemon juice, and flour. I guess some boiling does occur during that process, given how the water in the apples will render out, but I'm not boiling in the sense of dunking apples in a water bath. Sorry for the lack of clarity on that point.
Charles,
ReplyDeleteIn thinking more about your idea of slicing the apples thinly, I realized that the French do this with their tarte aux pommes. But as with Amurrican apple pie, the French put the apples in raw, so the apples, even when thinly sliced, still retain some firmness. In discussing what my coworker was going for, he and I agreed that we were talking more about the gooey apples I associate with certain forms of apple fritter. I do indeed like that gooey texture, and as I wrote in the post, I've done apple pies with that sort of filling before.