Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

My mother Fran was a renown pie-maker in Kirkland Washington. My sister and I have tried to replicate her apple pie, the likes of which we have never found since at any gourmet dinner, top restaurant or bakeoff. She piled up chunks of Gravenstein apples in her amazing pies, which oozed with buttery apple syrup created during the baking process. Gravensteins are rare, tart and bursting with flavor. She would be horrified to hear people using mushy Golden Delicious and Macintosh. Her final trick was to paint the bulging pie crust cover with a light layer of egg white. The egg whites cooked into a beautiful, very shiny, golden glow rather than sort of brown and dull crust typical of most pies. With all due respect to the commenters, nobody can beat Fran Stewart on apple pies. Gravensteins rule. If only we had written down her recipe ... and so much other wisdom.