Episode 9 : Pie Baking

Bob loves pie… but despite his love of the culinary arts, he's just never had the patience to tackle cooking's more finicky cousin. In fact, he has never baked a pie in his life! This week, his challenge will be to take a deep breath, raise his rolling pin high, and perfect the art of baking home made apple pie. He'll be competing against veteran grannies in the Shelburne Orchard's Annual Apple Pie Baking contest in Vermont. Bob will have to join the apple harvest for a couple of backbreaking day - all the better to become one with his material. His reward? Fresh air, all the crisp, organic Vermont apples he can eat and no more store bought pie.

Recipes:

Bob Blumer's (Almost) Award Winning Pie

Won Third Place in the Shelburne Orchards Pie Baking Contest in Shelburne, Vermont

Ingredients:
For crust:
¼ cup bacon fat, chilled until solid (rendered from up to one-half pound bacon see testing note)
9 tablespoons (1 stick plus 1 tbs) cold unsalted butter, preferably freshly churned
2 cups all-purpose flour
½ tsp salt
7 - 9 tablespoons ice water

For filling and to finish pie:
10 large, fresh-picked Vermont McIntosh apples
½ teaspoon freshly ground cinnamon (use a clean coffee grinder)
¼ teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg (use a rasp-style grater)
6 tablespoons white sugar
6 tablespoons granulated maple sugar
3 tablespoons all- purpose flour
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
¼ cup apple brandy (optional - see testing note)
Egg wash made from 1 egg whisked with 3 tablespoons milk.

Directions:

1. A few hours in advance of when you plan to make your pie, fry up enough bacon to yield ¼ cup bacon fat and refrigerate fat until solid. Eat bacon.
2. If you have the time and the cow, milk cow and churn butter from about 2 cups fresh heavy cream. Refrigerate to chill.
Make crust:
1. In a large bowl, whisk together flour and salt. Dice cold bacon fat and butter into quarter-inch cubes and work into flour mixture using a pastry blender or two table knives until fat is the size of small peas.
2. Sprinkle 4 tablespoons ice water evenly over flour and toss mixture with a fork until all flour is moistened. Add more ice water gradually until a handful of dough comes together when squeezed. Do not overwork dough. You should still be able to see small but distinctive pieces of butter.
3. Gather dough into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate while preparing filling, at least 30 minutes.
Make filling:
1. Peel, core and slice apples about one-eighth-inch thick. (You should have about 10 to 12 cups).
2. In a large bowl, whisk together cinnamon, nutmeg, white and maple sugars, flour, and cornstarch. Toss apples in mixture to coat.
3. (You can skip this next step - see testing note.) In a small saucepan, melt butter over medium heat and add apple brandy (do not pour straight from the bottle).
4. Remove pan from heat and carefully light alcohol on fire with a long kitchen match or grill-starter. Let it flame until it burns out. Pour brandy mixture over apples and toss to coat evenly.
Construct and bake pie:
1. Preheat oven to 450° F with a pizza stone (see testing note below) set on the rack one below the top slot. Lightly butter your pie plate. (Blumer used a 10-inch enameled cast iron pie plate.)
2. Remove chilled pie dough from refrigerator and divide it in half. Form each half into a disk. Re-wrap one and put it back into the refrigerator. Using a dusting of flour on your rolling surface and your rolling pin, roll dough into a circle about 11 inches in diameter. Roll from the center out and pick up dough and rotate it frequently to prevent sticking and help roll it evenly with flour as needed, but use as little as possible.
3. Drape dough over rolling pin to transfer to pie plate.
4. Pile filling into pie crust, pressing down to fill crust well.
5. Roll out second ball as above for top crust and cut 4 to 6 vents in crust. Lay top crust over filling and trim excess edges with kitchen shears. Crimp edge of pie together decoratively.
6. Add cut-outs made from trimmed dough if desired. Brush top of pie with egg wash making sure not to paint vents shut (re-cut them if necessary).
7. Use a long, thin piece of foil to fashion a protective border for your crust edge.
8. Bake pie on preheated pizza stone for 12 minutes. Reduce heat to 350° F and bake for another 45 to 50 minutes, removing foil edge protector about 20 minutes before end of baking time. Pie is done when crust is golden and apples give to a sharp knife when checked through a vent.
9. Cool for about one hour before serving.

Testing Notes:
1. Adapted from Bob Blumer, "Glutton for Punishment" Free Press testing note: You want bacon that is not heavily smoked. Blumer used Vermont Smoke and Cure bacon; it took us only 5 slices (about 5 ounces) to yield one-quarter cup fat. If you prefer not to use bacon fat, just use 4 more tablespoons of butter.
2. A pizza stone is not mandatory but it helps ensure the bottom crust is done when the top is. If you don’t have one, you might want to move the oven rack down one setting to get the bottom crust closer to a heat source.
3. You can skip the flaming brandy if you don’t like to set things on fire in your kitchen. Just cut the tablespoon of butter into small bits and scatter it over the top of the filling.

Pork Loin with Apple and Cornbread Stuffing

Compliments of Rick Gencarelli, Executive Chef of Shelburne Farms in Shelburne, Vermont Unfortunately, due to time constrains of the show, Rick's segment didn’t make it into a show. Make sure to stop by Shelburne Farms to taste their amazing food, it's to die for!

It is particularly worth searching out a good piece of meat for this recipe, preferably locally raised and not too lean. You want your pork roast to have a thin layer of fat on top or the meat can dry out. An instant-read thermometer is also critical to judge done-ness and prevent overcooking. Allow about 20 minutes per pound to reach 145° F for medium-rare.

Ingredients:
1 center-cut, boneless pork loin roast, about 3½ - 4 pounds
3 firm but ripe apples
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 shallot, finely minced
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh sage
1 large, sturdy corn muffin, broken into one cup of &$188;-inch cubes or rough crumbles
¼ cup cider or natural apple juice
1 ½ teaspoons coarse kosher salt plus more to taste
freshly ground pepper to taste
1 tablespoon olive oil

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350° F and take the pork roast out of the refrigerator to come to room temperature.
2. Cut the unpeeled flesh of one of the apples into ½-inch cubes.
3. In a large sauté pan or skillet set over medium heat, melt the butter until foamy.
4. Add the cubed pear and shallot and cook, stirring occasionally, until the shallot has softened (3-4 minutes).
5. Add the sage and corn muffin cubes and cook, stirring occasionally, for another 3-4 minutes.
6. Add the cider, ½ teaspoon of the salt, and a few grinds of pepper. Continue cooking until the cider is absorbed, another 5-7 minutes.
7. Take the stuffing off the heat and cool for 10 minutes until it is easy to handle.

Yield: Serves 6-8

Baked Apple, Smoked Turkey, and Cheddar Strata

For this dish, you want a semi-tart, crisp apple that is not so juicy that it leaches lots of liquid nor so soft that it completely disappears into the custardy bread. Flavor-wise, it should stand up to the smoked meat and rich cheddar. Try Granny Smith, Macoun, Empire, Winesap, or Cox's Orange Pippin if you're lucky enough to find it.

Ingredients:
¾ lb crusty, country-style bread, trimmed of hard crust and cut into 1-inch cubes (about 4 - 5 cups)
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 large shallots or 1 small onion, thinly sliced (about 1/3 cup)
1 lb smoked turkey (about 2 slices cut about ¾ inch thick), skin discarded, cut into ¾ inch cubes
4 large eggs
1 quart half-and-half
3 medium apples, peeled, cored, and cut into ½-inch dice
½ teaspoon coarse kosher salt
1 ½ cups (about 6 ounces) coarsely grated sharp cheddar
freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375° F. Lightly oil a 9 by 13 inch baking dish.
2. Lay the bread on a cookie sheet and toast it in the oven for 10 minutes, then set aside to cool. Reduce the oven temperature to 350° F.
3. In a large sauté pan or skillet set over medium-high heat, heat the olive oil. Add the shallots and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened (3-4 minutes).
4. Add the turkey to the pan and cook, turning occasionally, until lightly browned (5-7 minutes).
5. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, half-and-half, salt and a few grinds of pepper.
6. In the prepared baking dish, evenly distribute half the shallot-turkey mixture, half the apple, and half the cheese, making one layer.
7. Top with all the bread, then the remaining shallot-turkey mixture and apple in a third layer.
8. Pour the egg mixture over it all and push the bread down to submerge it in the custard. Sprinkle the remaining cheddar over the top.