Today’s pie stories are from our Semifinanlists Meredith Newmark (Triple-Crust Cast-Iron Skillet Apple Pie), Cheryl Thompson (Cheryl’s Nice and Naughty Sweet Potato Pie), and Cora Gaines (Dottie Sweet Potato Pie).
TRIPLE-CRUST CAST-IRON SKILLET APPLE PIE
Meredith Newmark
Program Manager
Silver Spring, MD
Most of my friends who taste this pie think it is unique because it has not one, not two, but THREE crusts –- and yet still seems to have the perfect apple-to-crust ratio. Other friends marvel at the fact that it is baked in a cast-iron skillet, or they appreciate the hidden treat of a layer of caramelized sugar on the bottom. But for me, it is special because the first occasion for which I made it was so special. I was living in Greensboro, N.C., and volunteering with an adult literacy organization tutoring Vietnamese refugees in English. For our holiday party at the end of the year, they wanted to make their traditional food to share with us volunteers, and in return I wanted to make something American for these new immigrants. And of course, what could be more American than apple pie? The pie was a big hit with my students, even though it was a new dish for them. It was a great way to finish a meal of stir-fried noodles, meatballs, and spring rolls. Sharing our cultural traditions together was the perfect way to celebrate the holiday. Since then, many others have enjoyed this recipe, and it won 3rd place out of 23 pies at the Takoma Park Farmer’s Market apple pie contest in 2012. But the memory of that Christmas party will still be my favorite thing about it.
Cheryl’s Nice and Naughty Sweet Potato Pie
Cheryl Thompson
Health Researcher
Washington, DC
My grandmother knew about baking pies and how to keep a man happy. “Learn to cook well and keep a clean house and you’ll be able to keep a man”, she’d say.
Together we’d be up to our elbows in flour; the preheating oven banging and ticking; breathing the aroma of reheating drippings from the last time we baked. Since that time there have been lots of request for my pies. Grandma taught me to put love in my cooking. She never told me how I might need to get even with a man who would do me wrong.
After being crossed too many times by my man we agreed to sort things out. For me there was no sorting necessary. I wanted one man, he wanted a harem. That night I made an unforgettable dinner, unbeknownst to him – his last supper, and topped the evening off with my unbelievably decadent and flavorful sweet potato pie, topped with walnuts. We talked and laughed for hours, no yelling. I served each course and when it came to desert he couldn’t get enough of my pie and Oh how I enjoyed serving it up. He suddenly noticed that I had packed up the few belongings he had at my house and I gently told him that we were done. I had found my freedom and he had tasted my sweet revenge, for the last time. Like the proverb says, ‘revenge is a dish best served cold” – just like my pie.
DOTTIE SWEET POTATO PIE
Cora Gaines
Nursing Assistant
Washington, DC
Hello….My name is Cora, and I would like to share with you an original recipe for Sweet Potato Pie. I call the pie original because it is. It originally came from my great grandmother’s slave cabin where she cooked just about everything for everybody. My pie crust calls for twenty three pies because that’s about how many people she had to feed, so I was told by my grandmother and my mother whose kitchen I learned the secret. I am told that my pie is the best tasting sweet potato pie by most people. But I especially like hearing it from the people that I take care of. One of the nicest things that I can remember is cheering some really sick person up with a rich sweet smelling pie aroma coming from a kitchen when I baked a pie especially for them.