[Sca-cooks] Tips for Better Pies

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

Well, a couple days ago Terry Gross interviewed food scientist Harold 
McGee, who apparently has a new edition of "On Food and Cooking" (i 
haven't seen this book, anyone got it?).

Terry asked him for some tips on baking a better pie. It's a bit late 
for Thanksgiving and might be too late for Christmas.... and i don't 
know if this will solve Huette's pie issues, but it's worth 
considering...

He pointed out that the problem is that we want the crust crisp all 
the while cooking a moist filling in it...

So first, he suggests for the crust: make it with less liquid and 
more fat. The fat will repel some of the moistness from the filling.

Then, second, for the filling: make it less moist by pre-cooking it 
to some extent before putting into crust to bake.

I haven't had a chance to experiment and test this, but if anyone 
gives it a try, please report back.

Anahita