Customer Reviews

Pie: 300 Tried-and-True Recipes for Delicious Homemade Pie

5 star:		(40)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I would easily rather have a good slice of pie than any other dessert, especially over cake. For my birthday I would order lemon maringue pie rather than cake.

Here is a compendium of 300 recipes gathered from various sources and all tested out by this pie guru.

Immediately upon receiving this newly published volume, my mouth watered and I baked three pies in three days: Watermelon Chiffon Pie; Indiana Butterscotch Pie with a Checkerboard Crust; and Caramel Apple-Pecan Pie. Each turned out fantastic! Not that hard to bake if one has baked some before, into which category I fit.

This large volume will be used as I have over 250 more luscious recipes I can't wait to try. Neat to consider making some and giving them as gifts. Why not take a pie along as a gift when attending a dinner invitation?

This book has great intro sections on pie making, equipment, resources, and around ten color photos. Each recipe comes with discussion of its origin and pointers on successfully pulling the recipe off. I especially appreciate his pointers on problematic steps in the prep, and what results to expect as one proceeds.

This is just an amazing work, and the world of pie lovers will truly embrace it!

`Pie' by culinary journalist and editor, Ken Haedrich is an imposing tome of 639 pages that the author freely admits is the largest single book on this subject. And, in my experience, he is probably right, although Rose Levy Beranbaum's `The Pie and Pastry Bible' weighs in at 692 pages, although it is not exclusively about the classic American sweet pie with its characteristic 9 or 9 ½ inch diameter and sloping sides, which distinguishes it from the French tart.

While sheer size alone suggests this book has a lot going for it, the contents confirm that this is a serious reference of recipes and techniques for that great American dessert. Unfortunately, this may still not be the very best text you can get on making good pies. There are three major reasons for that opinion.

First, the aforementioned `Bible' and Susan Purdy's `As Easy as Pie' are both superior texts for presenting good illustrated techniques for how to deal with all the ins and outs of making that elusive tender and flaky piecrust. Haedrich has very few diagrams to illustrate his techniques. The only one I saw was a series of diagrams for assembling a lattice top crust which you commonly see on cherry pies. Other techniques such as pastry cutouts may have been decorated with a single drawing, but hardly a full illumination of the subject. This is doubly irksome as Haedrich's basic technique for transferring the rolled pastry to the inside of the pie plate is not the most common method. In fact, I find his recommended method just as prone to mishaps as the three other methods I have seen or read about.

Second, I really didn't find his coverage of pie pastry methods to be as complete as what we have in the two other references I cite. Unlike Beranbaum and Purdy, Haedrich is just a bit too connected to a particular technique for each task. He even goes so far as to `debunk' some methods such as the technique of rolling pastry dough out between two pieces of plastic. Now it just so happens that based on a demonstration done by my hero, Alton Brown, on an episode of Good Eats, I actually used this method, using a disassembled freezer storage bag for the plastic, and I am happy to say it worked like a charm. Since it was very easy to flip the pastry over and reflour its surface now and again, I was able to roll it out to a very decent circle with no mishaps. And, I had no problems transferring it to the pie dish using the fold in half method. Beranbaum and Purdy tend to give us a range of possibilities, and let us pick the method that works best for us. I find it especially odd that Haedrich doesn't include a description of the classic French technique for working butter into pastry, which Purdy covers to excellent effect.

Third, for a book this big dedicated exclusively to pies, I would have expected it to cover all the standards, then move on to variations. Oddly, I discovered that almost every `classic' pie recipe I looked for was missing from this book. I looked for a standard peach pie recipe and found only some variations which used some expensive ingredients I was not prepared to buy (I stuck with my old favorite from Purdy's book). I looked for a classic mince pie recipe and only found a Mincemeat - Green Tomato pie. This is not a very practical recipe for Thanksgiving and Christmas, when we are most inclined to make a mincemeat pie. (Purdy comes through again with a great method for jazzing up jarred mincemeat preparations.) I could also find no references to `tarts' at all, even to the classic Tarte Tatin (French Apple Pie). I suspect the Tarte Tatin is probably covered in the author's Apple Pie book.

All this means this book is not quite the DEFINITIVE volume it hopes to be, but that doesn't mean it is not a very good book to have if you happen to really like baking pies. I highly recommend it as a second book after you have Susan Purdy's excellent and inexpensive trade paperback `As Easy as Pie' (There are some other Purdy pie books which are really abridgments of the larger book. Try to get the original.) If you can't find Purdy's book, Nick Malgieri's `Perfect Pastry', also in paperback, is a great manual for basic techniques, especially since his techniques are illustrated with photographs, if that works better for you. While Barenbaum's book is, in many ways, the best of the lot, it tends to be oriented to professional baking methods, and it spends a lot of time explaining the whys and wherefores behind the techniques.

Haedrich has two important things going for him. First, the book is a very easy read. You will enjoy yourself wandering through his opinions on pies and pie making techniques, even if you rely more heavily on other texts. Second, this is a huge collection of PIE recipes. If you have no interest whatsoever of venturing into the world of tarts, galettes, or some other fancy European pastry, this book will keep you occupied for years, as long as you have at least one good reference like Purdy for the standards. It is also nicely priced, being about $6 less (or even less if you get the paperback), list price, than Beranbaum's similarly sized volume (although Beranbaum's Bibles are worth every penny for the serious baker).

A very good source for pie recipes overall.

Having been raised by my southern grandmother, I have spent a very long time trying to just come close to one of her delicious pies. All of that training she gave me as a child on the perfect, easy pie crust flopped each time. My filling was too runny, too sour, too sweet, too...well, just too. And, yes, I've bought every pie book possible, only to have each attempt turn out inedible and my esteem riddled with disappointment. My family had given up. That was until I bought this book.

I didn't think it possible, but everyone now thinks I'm a pie genius. My husband couldn't believe the Bumble Berry Pie with the unusual shredded top crust. He says he never wants a regular top crust on a fruit pie again. Our friends ate a whole Chocolate Brownie Pecan Pie in one sitting. And the Blackberry Silk...mmmmm. I could go on and on...and not one failure.

Thank you, Mr. Haedrich. After years of failing, I'm now remembering what it's like to sit at my gran's table and wait in anticipation for that delicious pie to come out of the oven. And now my family is doing the same.

It's undeniable that Ken Haedrich has got an incredible assortment of recipes in this book--I've tried several of them and most of them were delicious. However, I found that some of his fruit pie recipes required more thickener (cornstarch) than he called for, as his amounts left the pie runny (even after letting it rest for a few hours, as he suggests).

There are however, a lot of interesting recipes that I've tried that came out absolutley perfect: Like Virginia Diner's Peanut Pie, Caramel Apple Pecan Pie, Maple Custard Pie, too name a few.

He offers a nice variety of crust recipes, and if you are sure to read his crust-making tips before venturing to make them, your crusts will ALWAYS come out as it should.

One of the best things about his book is the "Recipe for Success" portion for each recipe that gives wonderful tips on how to achieve the perfect pie.

Other pie cookbooks on the market range from the mix-based quick pie guide type to the master recipe collection intended for advanced cooks: Ken Haedrich's Pie: 300 Tried-and-True Recipes For Delicious Homemade Pie falls somewhere inbetween the two, providing beginners with an exceptionally easy basic understanding of how to cook a pie, while packing in dishes from bakeries, cooks and specialty shops across the country. Pie features tried-and-true recipes for 300 delicious creations, all of them sweet, savory, and very highly recommended

Finding a great pie anywhere is extremely difficult. In fact, it is rare that I would even ask for pie as a dessert choice because they are usually not very good. However, my hankering for pie reached a frenzy after watching the movie "Waitress".

For those unfamiliar with that movie, its main character explains her feelings through coming up with creative pies. When the movie's credits began, my longing for pie took hold of me. I was convinced, after many attempts, that there was no really great pie out there, so I decided to make my own.

After a great deal of research, I found this book. It is really outstanding. The writing is fun and easy to read. It is well organized and takes the stress out of baking a pie for a first timer like me. Ken makes it seem so simple that during the past month I have made over 20 pies, ranging from fruit to nut to cream pies. I took a class about baking pies, but it did not hold a candle to Ken's book.

Those twenty pies have mostly been baked for other people. The joy a fresh baked pie gives to someone makes me feel like I am making a difference. People love getting homemade pies, so much so it almost brings them to tears. My husband's co-workers, people at the gym, employees at stores that I frequent, and neighbors have been the beneficiaries of most of them. The reviews have been outstanding! People have said that they are the best pies they've ever eaten. At first I thought they were just being nice, but those platitudes have come from non-pie lovers and even the most finicky eaters. People are so excited about getting pies that I just can't stop making them!

I would like to say that the best place to get a great pie is my house. However, that sounds a little conceited and is not one hundred percent true. The truth is, if you want to have a great pie make one of your own using "Pie: 300 Tried and True Recipes for Delicious Home Made Pie". You will not be disappointed. The only problem is that you might not be able to eat pie at a restaurant again. On the bright side, you will always have something great to bring to a potluck, cook out or give as a gift. Pie really is the best desert out there. It combines all the best of creativity, complexity, and bakery goodness.

Is it time to pity the pie? I think not. It is time to make pie! So "pie it forward". [...]

This book is not a feast for the eyes as there are very few photos. However, I love this book for the information that is included along with each recipe (as much as I love reading the lucious recipes!). The writing is very conversational, not condescending. Even if you don't bake, you'll be tempted to try most of the recipes in this book. Don't want to spend the effort for a lemon meringue pie? Try the "10-minute" version. Don't want to spend the effort to make your own crust? Read the reviews of store-bought ones to make your best choice. Or perhaps you are looking for a new one to try -- there are over 20 different crust recipes!
I also like that the recipes are not made-up fancy ideas but tried and true (many from restaurants). The author's notes are included for each recipe, noting where the recipe originated, what type of pan he uses for this particular recipe, options for different types of crusts, tips he found useful for working with the ingredients.
Despite it's thickness, the paperback cover seems sturdy enough to withstand many years of use.

I think this book has some great recipes, however, I feel that this book lacks some traditional/basic pie recipes that you would expect this book would have. It would have been nice if some recipes had instructions to make them more basic. Ex. I see Blackberry-Cherry Double Crust pie, but how about instructions for adapting it to make a simple Blackberry pie.

There are a few that I can't imagine ever making - - like Spiced Parsnip pie, or Pear and Jalapeno Jelly pie, or Sweet Avocado Cream Cheese pie. But there are lots of gems here too.

Overall worth the purchase.

I received this book a year ago as a gift; pies are my favorite dessert and I love to try new recipes. Overall I really like this cookbook, but I have two gripes. First, the index is not well done. Recipes are indexed by their name (ex: Aunt Marge's Apple Butter Pie), in many cases with no cross-reference of main ingredients (ex: Apple Butter). Having to remember the name of the actual recipe, rather than the main ingredient, is not very user-friendly. Oh, and six pages of the index are for the listing of "Pie" - um, the name of the cookbook is Pie so aren't all the recipes for pie?

My second gripe is the way the author indicates baking temperature. In many of the pies, he recommends par-baking the crust, and this is part of the recipe instructions (referring the reader to an early page about the process). The instructions then continue with the pie itself, presuming the oven is at the temperature used for the par-baking, yet that temperature is not listed on the recipe page. If the filled pie is to be baked at a different temperature then the new temp is given, but if not and you didn't immediately pre-bake the crust, you have to go back to the pie crust page to find the temperature.

That said, I do like this cookbook and have found many new recipes in this book and its array of all types of pies (fruit, nut, cream, custard, you name it!).

Very well written, has just about any pie recipe you could be looking for and then some. He has a huge selection of just crust recipes alone, plus numerous ways to make them (i.e. by hand, food processor, electric mixer.) Just for the crust recipes alone this book is worth having, in my opinion.

His directions are clear and and easy to follow. This book is a good choice for both the beginner or experienced baker. He discusses various types of pie pans, when to choose a particular type of crust, etc. Which as any experienced baker knows, these things make a huge difference in the quality of the finished product.

At first glance this book was mind boggling in the number of recipes to choose from. After perusing the book I chose a few to make for Thanksgiving and Christmas, and they turned out well.