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Bud Grossmann’s
Words of the Week
for the Week of
May 4, 2008
Previously unpublished fiction.
© 2008 by Bud Grossmann.
All Rights Reserved.
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Sliced Strawberry, 2004
© 2004 by Bud Grossmann
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EASY AS PIE? WHO WOULD KNOW?
Thanks very much, Peggy, for your kind note, postmarked in Fjord on April 29 but miraculously delivered to my P.O. box on the snow-globe beautiful twenty-eighth. I wonder if I can sell the stamp and its cachet for a premium price.
Because you have shown yourself to be a serious baker and a trustworthy person, I want to give you my own assessment of the birthday pie I baked in your honor. You realize, I’m sure, that modesty is not among my virtues. (Nor brevity.) This review is offered by one kitchen artist to another.
That strawberry pie was okay, but just okay. Maybe I’d give it a 6 on a scale of one to ten.
The lattice strips of my top crust were too thick in the middle and slightly underdone, while the perimeter was overcooked and dry. Bottom crust was flaky and good. The filling, alas, was bland, disappointing.
My recipe: Four cups of sliced strawberries, gently tossed with 1/3 C flour and 1/3 C sugar, mounded in the center of the bottom crust, and dotted with about 1 T butter before weaving the top crust. I brushed egg white on the top crust and sprinkled it with less than a teaspoon of sugar. I baked the pie at 425° for 25 min. with a foil “skirt” and then 15 min. more with the skirt removed.
I wasn’t sure how far a pound of strawberries would go when sliced, so I had bought two pounds. One pound, as it turned out, yielded what I needed. So, with the extra basket of strawberries on hand, I had a good excuse to promptly try to improve the pie. On Saturday morning I baked a similar one to welcome Arthur Burkely back from Florida (Aunt Jeannette, too, but she’s diabetic and cautious; Uncle Art is my pie guy here in Fjord). Into this second pie I put a Fuji apple, cored and diced with the skin on, no changes to the rest of the recipe (except I was careful to roll the top crust more evenly), and this time I was pleased. I don’t know for sure what the Burkelys thought (they are so polite), but I myself will grant it an 8 or 8.5.
I had only a sliver, enough to qualify me to compose this review. Although I am a pig for sweets, I can be content watching others enjoy my baking, particularly if I succeed in making women moan with pleasure. My lemon meringue is the most moan-provoking pie I make. I don’t recall if I’ve brought lemon to you and the other ladies at the Fire House. I’ve concluded that using some fresh lemon juice is important. Several pies ago, I bought a lemon with such excellent skin that it produced enough zest for four or five pies. I froze the leftover grated rind and used it later on a couple of occasions with bottled juice alone, but those pies seemed to lack a proper “bite.”
So. You were kind enough, Peggy, to ask for the strawberry pie recipe, and now I’ve given it, with some bonus comments. I hope you’ll include a sweet apple if you make the pie, and I hope you’ll tell me how it goes. Or summon me to sample a slice.
Thank you again, for your note of appreciation and your encouragement in our craft.
Love,
Dave
♦
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