Taste-Goodery
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Email from BuFoon John:
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Good Morning Opoots and Keekwullie
[The Native names given to BuFoon Lin and me by BuFoon John / Itchwoot.]
At the writing group there is a black lady named Louise. She was telling us about the time she went home after being out of the country for a couple of years and asked her mother to make her all time favorite, an apple pie.
She and her mother went to the store to get the apples and the other things needed for the apple pie. To her surprise her mother bought frozen pie dough and canned apple pie filling. Needless to say, she was very disappointed in the pie but didn’t say anything, and put on the act that she loved the pie.
I made her one of my infamous upside-down pecan apple pies. it was the winner of the New York Fireman’s pie contest. (I didn’t get a picture and sure wish I had. It turned out beautiful.)
Here’s the recipe: I think this would be considered a BuVu Do-Goodery.
[Amen, BuFoon John / Itchwoot. Or, it may fall into a new category: Taste-Goodery. Come to think of it, all our Do-Goodery should be Taste-Goodery, in some way.]
Line a glass pie plate with a thin layer of brown sugar, then put a layer of pecan halves over the brown sugar. Be artistic, place them with precision so as to form circles, covering the entire area covered in brown sugar.
Make some Carmel.
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk ( Eagle Brand)
1 cup packed light or dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Cook on medium heat to soft ball stage using a candy thermometer about 245 degrees F.
I double this and then what is left over mix in a cup of chopped pecan nuts and poor into a well buttered glass pan. When cool, cut into small pieces and wrap in wax paper to hand out as Carmel chews to the kids, as rewards for whatever.
Next make your pie dough using:
3 cups of all purpose flour
1/2 cup good old fashioned lard
1.2 cup butter flavored Crisco
1 teaspoon salt
Blend salt and flour, then blend in the Crisco and lard using a fork or dough blender. Even the CuisineArt works well for this stage.
After the flour is corn meal stage, from blending in lard and Crisco, add 1/2 cup ice water and mix in with a fork. Don’t over mix: just enough to get all the flour mixture wet.
Makes enough Dough for two large pies.
Roll out bottom crust and place over the top of the Pecans and brown sugar.
Add apples lightly dusted with flour, cinnamon and nutmeg.
Arrange the apple slices so as to have a nice full pie. I use half Granny Smiths and half Braeburn apples, about three each.
Poor one cup of carmel over the apples and cover with dough lid for pie. Be sure to slice small vents in the dough lid.
Put the pie on a pizza pan to bake at 350 degrees F. for about 60 to 70 minutes. Guaranteed to spill over. The spill over is easy to clean once the candied brown sugar is cold. Chips right off and then hot water finishes the clean up.
This is very important: Once the pie is done, remove it from the oven and let it stand for only 3 Minutes. Only three minutes. TIME IT.
If the brown sugar is allowed to sit too long you will not be able to get the pie out of the pie plate.
Place a large plate over the top of the pie, using care turn the pie upside down onto the plate IN A QUICK FLIPPING MOTION.
What you will see is a BEAUTIFUL SUN BURST OF GOLDEN PECAN CANDIED IN BROWN SUGAR, ATOP A FABULOUS APPLE PIE.
Let the pie cool. With a sharp knife, cut pie and serve with a little ice cream.
There you have it: the pie I made for Louise. Needless to to say, all of the group were delighted with the pie and there was only one small piece left over.
Louise guarded it like a junk yard dog, so she could take it home.
I wrote the attached poem to go along with the pie, as my writing for this week.
Love ya
Itchwoot.
Change
John Joseph 5/6/2009
For Louise
Standing only knee high
To all the Giants of the world
We see all kinds of knees,
Fat ones, Skinny ones, Round ones
Bony ones and Sagging ones
The Sagging ones are usually nylons
Not pulled up high enough.
There are old knees, covered by coarse and thick fabric
Pulled up above the knee and twisted
Into a knot and tucked back in
On itself to hold ‘em up.
Grandma stocking I think.
Hug Mom’s leg
Just tall enough to press your nose
Into her apron at thigh high.
Smell the cinnamon and nutmeg wiped from
Her fingers as she makes an apple pie.
My favorite of all the pies she could make
Home made pie dough
Peeled and cut up apples
Covered with sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg
Laid in the pie pan with precision and accuracy
As if a work of art
Done with huge amounts of love.
Teen age years
I think I’m a Vegetarian
That is until my best friend tells me
Elephants are Vegetarian look how big they are.
I miss the smell of Mom’s apron
The smell of pot roast in the oven
The smell of fried chicken for Sunday dinner
And the smell of
Mom’s apple pie.
I left home to find my way
On my return I only wanted
Mom’s apple pie.
Off to the store
What’s this?
Frozen pie crust
Canned apple pie filling
No smell of cinnamon or nutmeg.
When Mom wasn’t looking sneak
back into the kitchen
Find her apron
No good smells of apple pie
Just the smell of the fabric softener
From the dryer.
What has gone wrong?
Not what I remember as a child
But then nothing is the same as it was when I was a child.
Enjoy the new twist to apple pie.
Brown sugar
Pecans, and yes
Home made pie crust
And cinnamon and nutmeg.
This is not your MaMa’s apple pie.
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BuFoon John / Itchwoot, this reminds me of my favorite Tom Robbins quote:
“There are only two mantras. Yum and yuk. Mine is yum.”
BuFoon Steve
