Serious Eats
My Pie Fidelity is Being Tested
After almost thirty years of unquestioned allegiance to Mrs. Blake on Martha's Vineyard, my pie fidelity is being sorely tested by a pie baker I had previously written off.
Another Vineyard pie purveyor, Little Rock Farms, is making some mighty fine pie, although it's nothing like a Mrs. Blake pie. LRF pies have an almost dainty, squiggly lattice crust that is remarkably flaky given how little crust there actually is on each pie. This minimalist crust showcases the just firm enough fruit in a LRF pie. We had a peach raspberry pie last night composed of peach slices that had not disintegrated into pie goo and still intact raspberries.
Given the season I'm sure LRF uses quick frozen fruit in its pies, but somehow they make it work. The LRF pie was also blessedly unsweet. Each forkful tasted like I was biting into ripe raspberries and peaches that had the proper balance between sweetness and acidity. Only a gummy unbaked bottom crust stopped me from inducting Little Rock Farms into the PMHF, the Pie Makers Hall of Fame.
So please forgive me, Mrs. Blake. I didn't go pieing around looking for trouble. It just happened. You weren't open yesterday, so I bought a Little Rock Farm pie because that was the only one available. Steve Stills was right. If you can't be with the pie you love, love the pie you're with.