On the day before Thanksgiving, I bake pies. Just do, always have. A pumpkin pie for my husband. A pecan pie for my older son. And a Kentucky Derby pie for my younger son, a tradition that I learned from my mother's family in Louisville, Kentucky.
I've never learned to make a good pie crust but, this year, I am inspired to try, thanks to the food chemistry blog carnival hosted over the last week by Chemical & Engineering News. There's a wonderful step-by-step crust guide at The Finch and the Pea (not to mention a really good guide to pumpkin pie filling, which I'm planning to test out as well.)
Really, is there anything more fun on a baking day than perusing the chemists' cookbook? Although there doesn't seem to be quite the pie-obsession that characterizes me this week. Still, I couldn't resist:
* The gooey, sticky, eat-me-now chemistry of caramel at Chemistry World.
* A post by See Arr Ohflavored with wood smoke, winter's first chilly breath, parsley and sage.
* The chemistry of sweet potatoes, hot bread, and stuffing (in other words, starch) at Science Geist.
* And an essay on the way we stir together food, comfort and companionship by Chemjobber which includes this lovely line: "It would have been fun to crack the recipe (and chemists love a challenge!), but without my friend's company and the warmth of a grad school gathering, it would just be another dessert in a 9X13 pan."
And that, really, brings me back to the subject of Derby pie. I don't know all alchemical magic that creates this slightly gooey, warm cookie concoction of butter, sugar, chocolate and nuts in a pie crust. But when I was younger, my sisters and I would crowd into my grandmother's kitchen just inhale the warm scent of it. And yeah, I try not to remember the shoving matches over the last piece.
And for my own family, this pie, and the others, form a buttery glaze of tradition that adds to the holiday meal. I have no elegant formulas or chemical insight to reveal, but in lieu of that, this is my grandmother's version of a Kentucky classic:
Derby pie
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup butter, melted and slightly cooled
1 cup broken pecans
6 ounces of chocolate chips (semi-sweet)
1 pie crust
Mix sugar and flour well. Add eggs, butter, pecans, chocolate chips, and vanilla. Pour into an unbaked pie crust and bake at 325 degrees for one hour.
Some people use a tablespoon of bourbon instead of the vanilla (but my grandmother was just not that kind of cook). She didn't fuss over the crust either so I've tended to use the pre-made kind that comes in big circles you can just press into a pan.
But this year, I'm definitely inspired to make my own crust, which means I'm leaving now for an evening of baking. Oh, and have a happy Thanksgiving!
Image: Derby pie/Wikipedia
