More pies

pie night has lately become a weekly staple. it seems few things are more appealing than a freshly baked pie and a movie. after just a few nights the 'pie assembly line' concept has emerged. with some practice, a pretty good apple pie can be assembled in about 20 minutes. 

1) first, the crust is made using a concoction of oil, water, flour, salt and 5 drops of vinegar. (5 drops is important, though I don't know why.)

2)apples are cored, peeled and sliced into slinky like objects using a handy apple-peeling-coring-slicing-machine. This is key.

3)some amounts of sugar, flour, lemon juice and cinnamon are added. 

4)bake as needed. 

this recipe is vague, and i recognize this. it seems to me that cooking (for the most part) with  an exact recipe is something of a dab. i want the final product to be something of an adventure, not a cloned "this tastes exactly as it did last week" kind of experience. pie should be comfortable, though not expected, familiar but not boring. 

some pie experiments:

apple pie and cheddar cheese- started with a ready made frozen pie, first mistake, but the final product turned out quite well, and was eaten remarkably quickly.

apple pie and bacon- eaten pretty quickly, could have been worse. the bacon on the top was not a cooked as it should have been. next time: pre-cook and chop bacon before adding to mess of apples.

grasshopper pie- recipe from JE's mother. somewhat alcoholy according to some in attendance. 

apple pie with honey- very nice, shouldn't forget the lemon juice and butter next time. 

buttermilk pie- the oh-so-decadent best pie ever pie. always a staple and so easy.

gluten-free crust and apple blueberry pie- crust from hell, and i was only watching it get made, smarvez can attest to the actual difficulty. tasted like beans before being baked. but according to the receiving party all turned out well, and the pie was actually edible.

now if only i could construct some other type of desert with any sort of aptitude all would be well.