Doom Prediction for: Pies at Blaisdell Polytechnic

[pameladean]

The mince pie is in the oven. The dough for the crust did not behave well -- it wanted too much water, the indulgence of which desire can lead to cardboard in the guise of pie crust; but I have had far, far worse doughs to cajole. I remembered to cover the edges of the crust with aluminum foil. When the mince pie is out, I will make the vegan pumpkin pie. I'm unlikely to kill the new blender, I just made the filling for Thanksgiving and am unlikely to unwittingly substitute ground mustard for the ginger; and the crust is unlikely to be worse than that for the mince pie. While the pumpkin pie is baking, I'll make the apple crisp for those who dislike or are allergic to pumpkin or mince. I do not have a migraine. I do have goats-milk fudge, very very kindly provided by mrissa.

Chance of Doomed Pies: 25%. Without the fudge: 35%.

Pamela

Comments

As a dumb (and too late suggestion)

[lsanderson.livejournal.com]

America's Test Kitchen (PBS) likes to add vodka. You can be more liberal because it's only half-water, and the alcohol does not develop the gluten.

Re: As a dumb (and too late suggestion)

[pameladean]

There's always next time! The family contains a recovering alcoholic, so I probably wouldn't do that for family pies, but I can always experiment on my tea group.

P.

Re: As a dumb (and too late suggestion)

[fledgist.livejournal.com]

The cooking will get rid of the alcohol (it cooks off at about 80 degrees celsius if I remember my high school physics).

Re: As a dumb (and too late suggestion)

[ethelmay.livejournal.com]

Yes, the whole idea is that the alcohol evaporates, so it holds the dough together as long as you need and then thoughtfully disappears. I haven't tried it myself.

I wouldn't use alcohol in a filling for a recovering alcoholic (though I've had wonderful sweet potato pie with a good slug of bourbon in it), but I think the crust gets hotter.

Re: As a dumb (and too late suggestion)

[sraun]

The cooking will get rid of most of the alcohol. It will never get rid of all of it, because there's this point at which the water/alcohol mixture has a lower boiling point than plain alcohol.

Also, I once ran across a test someone did of exactly how much alcohol boils off for several different cooking methods. There's a USDA table at the bottom of this page that shows % alcohol remaining for various cooking times. The general answer is "a lot more than you think!"

Re: As a dumb (and too late suggestion)

[fledgist.livejournal.com]

Wow! I certainly did not know that. It is, in many cases a lot more than I had thought.

Re: As a dumb (and too late suggestion)

[pameladean]

Yeah, I ran across that a few years ago and was gobsmacked.

P.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I am so glad that the fudge has lessened the chance of doom around there.

[pameladean]

Significantly, I do assure you.

P.

[lblanchard.livejournal.com]

I am going to cherish the phrase "doomed pies," which are the only kind I bake any more.

I hope you have/had a wonderful day.

[pameladean]

Yes, once one begins, it is hard to go back to ordinary pies.

I had a wonderful day, and hope that you did too. And I have put the snowflake with its cousins for a very small blizzard in the corner of my office.

P.

[dubiousprospects.blogspot.com (from livejournal.com)]

The pie is not doomed as culinary endeavor until all assembled refuse to eat it, I would say.

The non-culinary doom is inescapable; pies are meant to be eaten, after all. And even if all the people declare they had rather dine on a concoction of deep fried freeze-dried tunicate fragments seethed in motor oil -- which seems surpassingly unlikely -- something will eat the pie, even if it's single celled and utterly incapable of recognition of the festive season.

Ground mustard for the ginger sounds kinda neat, really. (half mustard, half ginger would probably have more authority than either alone, and perhaps be considered excessive.)

[pameladean]

It was really much too hot; and, it seems, like cayenne, ground mustard gets hotter as it sits about in a nice bath of tofu and sugar and vegetable oil. I ended up using the mixture as the custard base for a number of vaguely Indian-inspired vegetable pies, but had to leave the last few cups to the unicellular organisms you mention, because the amount of dilution required to make the leftovers less than fiery at a week's remove was such as to render the operation meaningless.

P.

[juliansinger.livejournal.com]

So was the doom complete, or did some pie remain amidst the doom?

[pameladean]

At the moment, pie remains -- two guests cancelled at the last minute, and in any case two pies and a double batch of apple crisp are rather too much for even eight people, let alone six, after a large dinner.

I don't expect the pies or the crisp to last the week, though.

P.

[bercilakslady.livejournal.com]

Using a bit of vinegar in the water also helps make pie crust behave. I don't recall why, sadly.