The great pie contest at the local county fair was held two days ago. I've had a hankering to enter a pie contest for years. While living in Canada ten years ago, I entered the Battersea Pumpkin Festival pie contest and won 2nd place. I believe that I've mentioned that before. I placed second in that contest so it seemed to me that the real test was to enter into an American pie contest. Off to the local grocery store I went to find my Jonagold apples to make the bestest pie I could. And there, I hit a snag. Jonagold apples were not to be found on the produce shelves yet. Now what to do? I had no idea what was the next best apple. I figured I better bake several pies to find that out I made six different pies altogether. In the end, I found out from the judging at the fair, all it really came down to was the crust. But I didn't know that when I started my quest for the best apple. I knew that a flaky, tender crust was all important but I had that conquered throughout all these years from being praised by friends and family who had eaten my pies. 
After trying pies made with Fuji, Gala, Golden Delicious, McIntosh and Idared, I settled on McIntosh--mainly because I had enough of them left to do it. Actually, I had enough Fuji or Gala but I couldn't remember between the two of them which one I had liked best so I caved and went with the McIntosh. I made my pretty pie with care and devotion and set it into bake. By this time, I was pretty tired of baking pies plus the McIntosh I had made earlier had been a smaller pie so to make sure this prize winning pie cooked enough to make the apples soft enough, I let it bake a few minutes longer. That was my failing. It looked decent but it looked just a tad browner than I would have liked it. As soon as I pulled it out I knew it wasn't going to take first place but I couldn't let the hope die. I had to go with what I got. There was no more time to bake another. Bill and I had to go to drum practice. I took two of the test pies to the group to share. There was sure a lot of yumming going on there while they all were eating them. Come Tuesday morning at 9:30, I'm off to the fair. I had to walk myself around using the wheelchair for support since Bill couldn't take off work and Amy couldn't get over to my house on time to help me out. I managed but it was one tiring day coping with a sciatic nerve that didn't want to quit hurting. All pies were supposed to be placed by 10:00 but they were still accepting pies at 10:30. That meant the judging started late. There were sixteen pies entered in the apple category. Here are the ones that were sitting beside mine. My pie is the furthest to the right in the left picture. All in all, the lady judge tasted 82 pies that day.   To while away the time, I conversed with one lady about the pies. She had one entered in the apple category, too. Then came the moment of truth. She dug into my pie and lifted the little slice out carefully as she had done with all the others. She said it came out nicely and held its shape. Then she tasted it. She said it had a nice flavorful filling but that the crust was a little tough since it got too brown. Sigh, I knew that but still hoped the crust was tender enough. I guess it wasn't for her. A few pies down she and her assistant had a discussion about if Dutch apple crumb pies should really be in the two-crust category or the one-crust category. She had tested a Dutch apple pie a few pies before mine. She said it was too late now but in her mind a two-crust pie means a dough bottom and a dough top. The Dutch apple pie was one of the five that she pulled aside for further consultation for the ribbons. Mine was not pulled aside, sigh. What won the 1st prize ribbon astounded me. It was an apple & raisin pie. Raisins with apples??? WTF? That's not a purebred apple pie. To me, that was wrong. I have to admit that I did feel disappointed that mine wasn't one of the five top contenders but Amy told me later after she ate some of mine that it was the best pie I had ever made. That was two days later. Maybe the crust needed some time to sit and mellow out. But it might have been the best pie in her eyes because it was made with full sugar and not the half Splenda, half sugar ratio I usually do. Oh, well, all that hustle and bustle is over, thank heaven. I don't need to do it again. You might say that was on my 'bucket list' so now I got that out of my system.  It all seems a bit silly now. |