Customer Reviews

Martha Stewart's Pies and Tarts

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I'm a little bit of an oddball in that I've been making pies and tarts since I was in High School, and basically learned how through this book. The basic recipes for pie and tart crusts and glazes, found at the back of the book with step-by-step illustrations, have become indispensable favorites of mine. Martha is a big advocate of using a food processor to ensure that chilled ingredients stay that way, ensuring a tender, flaky crust that's fast and reliable, and I couldn't agree more, especially if, like me, you're working in an unairconditioned kitchen. The recipes for pastry cream and lemon curd are superb. Rather than using specific recipes for tarts, I usually bake one of the crusts (pate brisee, pate sucree or sucree extra or nut), use the recipe for pastry cream found in the recipe for the blackberry tart, and add my own fresh fruit and one of the glazes. Among the individual recipes, the apple raisin pie is a favorite I make every Thanksgiving, the Tarte Tatin is great, and I especially appreciate the recipes using Italian Prune or Friar plums, available in late August / September, my favorite fruit for pies and tarts. I just ate a Pear Frangipane tartlet this weekend, and was pleased to discover there was a recipe for it in this book, and look forward to making my own. One of my only complaints is that the recipes seemingly all use different-sized and shaped pie and tart tins, with no easy formulas for converting recipes to fit what you're using. Also, there's no recipe for a classic pecan pie. However, this book is a classic Martha Stewart effort, with the beautiful photographs and consistently high standards that go with that; it certainly has stood the test of time in my kitchen.

Boy, to read some of the more negative reviews, it sounds like no one has any common sense when it comes to substituting ingredients. Come on, if something calls for winter banana apples and you don't have them, just use a variety you have access to! Same with the fraises, just use strawberries, same with Meyer lemons, etc. This book is good because it is so well illustrated and you have an idea of what your creation ought to look like, it is good because it provides several examples of what to do with each fruit where appropriate, and the pastry recipes and glazes work. The fact that she has an entire section devoted to apples is a good sign and should inspire bakers rather than freak them out. If you're unsure in the kitchen, DON'T start with pies and tarts, stick to cookies and quick breads until you have those mastered. If something looks complicated, either don't attempt it or make it less complicated and omit the chocolate leaves or roses, don't braid the edging on the crust, just do what is comfortable. Just because Martha Stewart has made her life out of domesticity doesn't mean she has an exclusionary agenda and that this book is merely an example of someone with endless means and access to ingredients. If that's how you feel don't buy her books only to criticize them.

Well, the illustrations in this book are beautiful and Martha's pie crust, as well as her lemon curd, are absolutely the best, but the pies and tarts in this book are simply the worst I've ever tasted! Really, I've tasted kindergarten paste that had more flavor than these recipes. As a seasoned baker, I do know how to substitute ingredients and add more spice, but why should anyone have to? And what about those who can't? After all, the book is not titled, Martha Stewart's Exotic Pies and Tarts for the Experienced Baker Only, however, it should be. What good is a book if most people really can't use it? Yes, I can make all those lovely grape clusters, leaves and tendrils that adorn Martha's Concord Grape Pie, but I think most people are really looking for something a little more basic. Okay, final analysis: if you're looking for the out-of-the-ordinary (and the tasteless) then buy this book. If you just want some great pie and tart recipes, try The Pie and Pastry Bible. You won't go wrong there.

I've tried at least 7 pies or tarts from this book and found the crusts, contents and compliments consistently excellent. Mom will not return my copy!

This book is perfect. The recipes are basic, unpretentious and they look and taste like a million bucks. I got "Pies and Tarts" from Amazon years ago and it's been a favorite since. Friends have borrowed it so much that it's falling apart.

Stewart's approach is that fruit pies should taste like fruit. They should be easy enough for everyday dining and they should make the most of whatever's freshest and in season. The recipes use a minimal amount of spices. The philosophy is one of restrained, everyday elegance.

The pies here are intended to be shared with friends and family, so there is some focus on presentation and decorative treatments. The fruit itself is showcased in most of the recipes. For the bottom crust plum pie, the crust is just folded inward around the edges leaving a mostly open face, which shows off the plum filling. It's rough, but beautiful.

The all-butter pie crust recipe is the star of the book though. Probably the definitive pie crust, period. The section is generously illustrated with photos so you can see the different stages of preparation, rolling and wrapping. If you've never had a handmade all-butter pie crust, it's completely different than anything you can get at the supermarket.

For traditional recipes with lots of whole fruit, this is a great volume to get acquainted with the essentials of pie making.

My favorite is the green tomato pie - with a little ginger, raisins, lemon and cinnamon. It's gooey, light and surprisingly delicate. I let the tomatoes drain for an hour first though, otherwise it comes out too liquid.

Martha's pies and tarts are the best recipes I have ever tried. Her crusts come our perfect. Their flavor is just right.

Despite all of the criticism of Martha Stewart, her cookbooks are well worth buying. Like her other books, PIES AND TARTS serves up not only new takes on old favorties, but also valuable recipes for basics such as puff pastry, various pie crusts, etc. This book has become one of my standard references. Her recipe for puff pastry made it easy for me the first time I ever tried it, and her recipe for Lemon Curd is one of my all time favorites. This book is easy to understand and use, and the pictures are wonderful.

Has anyone really tried the Scallion Tart recipe? Martha wants 8 BUNCHES of scallions cut into match stick pieces. Hey Martha this made birds nests on my tartlets. My daughter grabbed one to go and called me down the road. "Hey MOM it tastes really good but I feel like I'm chewing grass. Am I going to colic after I eat this? We cooked half at a time so before the second pan went in the oven we removed two thirds of the scallions. This batch made it so you could actually taste the olives and walnuts. So Martha did you really mean 8 BUNCHES?

I have used this numerous times and it is one of my favorite books for desserts. I find it especially usefull for late Summer and Fall when fruits are ripe and I am in the mood for days of baking.

As a self-taught baker (by the time I was 12 I was the champion pie baker in my community) I can understand why people have difficulties with pies and breads. They are not for the faint of heart, those who do not wish to practice, or for those who wish to use cheap ingredients. If one wants to bake a pie, it is going to be the satisfying WORK of love, just as is playing the piano. And both require practice. For those who don't want to put that time and money into their life's satisfactions, buy frozen pies and CD's. They can be reasonably good, and some of my guests with cardboard palates and tin ears don't know the difference; but don't serve them (the frozen pies, that is) to me!