Some people are cake people. I can take or leave cake. But I love pie.
Oddly, my love of pie is not rooted in home baked pie, because my mother did not bake pie, at least not successfully. She bought pie at the A&P store. Every so often, they had a 99 cent special on apple pies. If you warmed it up, and topped it with cheddar cheese - my papa’s favorite topping - it was tasty, despite its humble origin.
As an adult, I have indulged in pie wherever I have found pie. I really don’t like anything on it - you’ll see me slide whipped cream off to the side to get to the main event. I enjoy pie so much that I have had it for many birthdays, and I love pie with the fruit of the season.
I have a number of pie-centric books in my collection. The latest is 50 Pies, 50 States: An Immigrant’s Love Letter to the United States Through Pie, by Stacy Mei Yan Fong. Read further to see how to win a signed copy.
In 2016, Stacy, who was born in Singapore, grew up in Hong Kong and went to college in Savannah, received her green card. She decided to bake 50 pies to reflect each American state. She needed a respite from her hectic job as a handbag designer, and had always found a release in cooking.
She spent time working at one of my favorite NYC food places, Four and Twenty Blackbirds (I once drove a pie home to Michigan from there for Thanksgiving).
The theme of her project was to research the flavors and traditions of each state, then present the pie to someone who lived there. The project took her on an epic series of trips, documented on her Instagram account.
The pies in Stacy’s book literally cover the map, from wild salmon and halibut pie for Alaska, to prickly pear and apple for Arizona. For New Jersey, she created a breakfast sandwich with egg, ham and cheese in a poppy seed crust, sort of a riff on a bodega special.
Michigan, no surprise given our bumper crop, gets cherry pie. Georgia gets a Sweet Tea Peach Pie with Pecan Crumble, Maryland features Blue-Crab Dip Pie with Hot Old Bay Crust, and there is an all-you-can-eat Buffet Pie for Nevada (think Las Vegas).
Stacy’s book offers dozens of entertaining possibilities. You might pick out pies in the states where you’ve lived or visited and run through those recipes, or put on a pie buffet inspired by your friends’ home states.
GIVEAWAY
I have one copy of 50 Pies, 50 States for a paid subscriber. In order to be eligible, upgrade your subscription, reply to this email or send a message to CulinaryWoman@gmail.com. I will be repeating this offer in Sunday’s newsletter. Reply by next Wednesday, Sept. 6.
I will draw the winner from among the replies, and you will receive the cookbook directly from the publisher. Stacy is graciously offering to send a signed bookplate to the winner.
You can read more about Stacy’s book here.
50 Pies, 50 States: An Immigrant's Love Letter to the United States Through Pie https://a.co/d/2Jt0GNE