My apologies for a newsletter that popped up in your email later than usual this Monday. Now that it’s finally getting to be spring, I’ve caught myself doing the absolute most and have neglected my writing duties a bit. Thankfully, today is 3/14, otherwise known as Pie Day, so it was easy for me to come up with something to write about—I absolutely love pie and will now talk about pie for a little bit.
French Silk Pie
My favorite pie of all time is French silk pie. We would get it from Baker’s Square growing up and they do have a pretty good French silk over there. Between pies that are made out of fruit and pies that are made out of cream, I much prefer a cream one. Not that I don’t like fruit pies but I just love whipped cream so much that if I could eat a whole pile of it I absolutely would prefer that over anything else. When I was in college, we would go to Village Inn (the same thing as Baker’s Square but better for some reason) on Free Pie Wednesday super late at night so that I could get a French silk slice for free (they only gave away fruit pies for free for some reason). It’s the perfect amount of whipped cream and chocolate, not too rich but extremely decadent.
Chocolate Pie
Very similar to French silk, I also love a chocolate pie. Just this weekend my friend celebrated her birthday and got a chocolate cream pie from Hoosier Mama in Evanston. I’ve only heard great things about Hoosier Mama but haven’t had the chance to go yet, and this experience made me understand the hype. This chocolate pie was topped with a giant mound of whipped cream. It was so rich that I could only eat a little bit but every bite was heavenly. I can’t wait to try more pies from this establishment.
Pecan Pie
It took me a while to try pecan pie since I’m not too keen on nuts and stuff like that, but I finally had it a few years ago and was really impressed by how good it was. It’s sweet but not too sweet, and pairs great with whipped or ice cream. While not a pie I would go for in the springtime, it’s one of my favorite Thanksgiving pies.
Blackberry and Apple Pie From the D&D Cookbook
A few weeks ago my roommate had a very elaborate dinner party using recipes from the Dungeons and Dragons official cookbook. For dessert, she made this pie from scratch that was filled with blackberries and apples and it was really good. The apples were sweet and the blackberries gave it just the right amount of tartness to balance it out. With some ice cream on top it was a perfect pie experience.
Regular Apple Pie
Obviously a regular apple pie is also very good—I am from the United States after all and it is actually illegal in our Constitution (nobody knows this) to not like apple pie. I do have to say, though, that this one especially needs a cream element on top for this to be a good food time. It’s extra nice when it’s fresh and hot, too.
Pumpkin Pie
It is also illegal in the United States to not like pumpkin pie because one day a pilgrim wrestled a wild turkey and saved his whole town and they all ate pumpkin pie to celebrate or something like that.
Turtle Pie
The frozen dessert brand Edwards (commonly found at Target and Wal-Mart grocery stores) sells this really great turtle pie. It’s got everything: chocolate crust, a creamy center, pockets of caramel in the cream, all topped with some whipped cream. This is my preferred pie to eat during Single’s Day Valentine’s Day (refer back to my Valentine’s Day newsletter). It’s been a bit hard to find in Chicago proper for some reason.
Lemon Meringue Pie
This is always going to be a classic pie if you want something light. I’ve found that it’s hard to eat a lot of lemon meringue all at once, but sometimes we don’t need to eat a whole half of a pie in one sitting! (Sometimes we do, though.)
Meat Pie
Every year for Christmas my grandma would make a ton of meat pies. The recipe is very simple: you have pie crust, and you have ground meat. You then put the ground meat into the pie crust and bake. It’s simple, it’s one of those dishes that came from Europe where they’re like, “We have some meat and we have some dough and golly ho we can feed a whole family tonight!” One time at a family gathering my cousin Matt told me that girls can’t eat meat pie. Fuck you, Matt! Now that my grandma passed away, the meat pie recipe has branched out a bit. My mom makes hers with a bit of potato and it’s actually better than the original recipe.
Shepherd’s Pie
Continuing with the trend of poor people's meals from Europe, I also love a shepherd’s pie. This may not fit in with the rest of the pies discussed here because there is no crust. I don’t know why it is called a pie because it’s really more of just like a pile of slop. I guess when you get one at the Renaissance Faire they serve it in a mini pie tin. Most recipes include a mixture of vegetables in the middle of the meat and the potatoes on top, but my family recipe doesn’t use anything except a single can of creamed corn. This may also be disgusting to admit, but I like to put ketchup all over it.
Chicken Pot Pie
I have never had a homemade chicken pot pie, but I absolutely love the frozen personal ones you get at the store. It’s a perfect struggle meal.
Deep Dish Pizza
No, I don’t think that deep dish is Chicago-style pizza. That title belongs to thin crust tavern-style pizza cut in squares. But I do have to include pizza in this talk of pies because sometimes pizza is called a pie and I know 7-Eleven gives away free pizza slices on Pie Day. I decided to go along with deep dish in this pie discussion because it’s the pizza that is closest in appearance and density to a traditional pie. Deep dish is great, but it is more of a casserole, more of an intense cheese experience that can only be consumed on special occasions than a regular pizza on a Friday night.
I appreciate you from the bottom of my 9:30am hungry gut. Yesterday I went to KFC in hopes to buy a spicy chicken samich and alas they had no chicken filets....so I asked for a pot pie (yes I forgot they sold these) aaaand they had just sold the last one...very sad. I ended on getting some chicken tenders (they were aight, but they played me dirty and totally forgot to give me my fries...). Anyways, I just wanted to mention the pot pie from FKC...I enjoy the buttery crust.