07/08/2020
A little history & a couple recipes, for that little Pie everybody LOVES!
Ahhhhh . . . Pie, our favorite dessert, is one of the all-time classics, thanks in part to the wide range of dishes that fit in this very special category. From the classic apple pie to cookie pie and chess pie and its many cousins, there’s a favorite flavor for almost everyone. Beyond fillings, there are many other pie variations to consider. One especially intriguing one is the fried hand pie, a favorite that’s made a variety of appearances across the U.S. and the rest of the world, documented in the 1600s.
Fried hand pies on a plate. Fried hand pies are a unique, versatile dessert.
In Australia, Meat Pies are readily found in most any restaurant. Round & packed FULL of some tasty meats. Mostly eaten in an mini-aluminum pie plate, they are easily handheld. Equated to an American Food, that would be the Hot Dog. Its everywhere. The choices in Oz (Aus or Australia) are as many as there are types of Hot Dogs.
The Chinese even made Fried Pies in the early 1600s, but not sweet.
Escoffier, the Chef who changed Cooking to become what it is today, made Fried/Baked hand pies, sweet & savory, in 21800s France.
A fried pie?
The fried pie, like many foods that have their roots deeper in history, doesn’t have a clear origin story. Many folks, especially in the South, presume its an American invention, stories of home cooks making and serving them to delighted family and guests proliferate in the South but also stretch into other parts of the country. The Charlotte Observer said the term “fried pie” can raise a quizzical look even in areas where the desserts are or were especially popular.
This dish is a part of culinary heritage item in some respects, not made as frequently as it once was but enjoyed thoroughly in person and in memory by those who are in the know. However, mention a Hostess Fruit Pie, or many other, similar national and regional industrially produced products often served in a small cardboard box or glassine pouch, and you may achieve wider recognition. Of course, most chefs want fresher, brighter and more distinct flavors than are found in convenience food baked weeks or months ahead of the time it’s eaten.
Considering all of the skill and effort that go into baking a good-looking, great-tasting pie – picture a Dutch apple pie topped with delicious streusel or an intricate lattice atop a variety of flavors – a small, fried version may seem less appealing.
While the final product is far different, looking somewhat like an empanada or turnover and easily held in a single hand, the fillings can be just as varied and delicious. Depending on the recipe you choose, a fried pie could also incorporate a variety of innovations that might not work with a traditional pie: glazes, dipping sauces and designs stamped into the crust are just a few ideas. Fillings can also be more adventurous, as the smaller size and the potential to serve a plate of pies means you can mix some more unique flavors in with the classics.
Developing your strategy for fried pies
A simple dough with little more than flour, baking powder, salt and butter – or lard, for real traditionalists – produces a fried pie that calls back to the recipe’s history. The Charlotte Observer’s cultural history of this dish ends with a simple recipe that also uses dried fruit, a traditional filling, to evoke all of the classic flavors of the dish. The filling can, with a little testing, be adapted to use a variety of other dried fruits, as well as jams, classically prepared pie fillings, puddings and more.
Fried pies are a tasty mix of old days and old ways
Mention a fried pie to someone outside the South - even in some parts of the South - and you can expect a puzzled look.
A whole, round pie? Fried?
No, not a pie, fried.
A fried pie.
Shaped like a half-moon, crimped along the edge with fork tines, with a filling usually made from dried fruit. Mostly apple or peach, although sweet potato shows up in some places.
Made in a skillet in a grandmother's kitchen or picked up at the checkout counter in a country store, tucked into a lunch box or a cooler.
There was a time when country school kids and blue-collar workers got through the day with something just like that.
"It's sort of like a side dessert," says Nancie McDermott of Chapel Hill, the author of "Southern Pies" "For traveling, or to have something when people are coming by."
When we think about classic dishes of the Southeast, those old favorites that hold a place in our hearts even if they aren't always on our tables anymore, fried pies came to mind.
There are fried pie makers in Oklahoma and Arkansas, a few in Tennessee and a lot in Texas. But with the dried-fruit filling, most people who know them agree fried pies started in the mountain South, where simple cooking was both tradition and necessity. And a big swath of those mountains pass through the Kentucky, Virginias, Tennessee & the Carolinas.
"You'd have flour, you'd have lard and you'd have dried apples right out of the Root Cellar," says McDermott. "And (dried apples) would be strung up and kept all year. So, you could make fried pies in the winter when you didn't have any fresh fruit."
When manufacturing died down, the pies became a convenience store staple, something a blue-collar worker could pick up on the way to a job site.
Fried pies definitely had a rural, blue-collar appeal back in the day. Now . . . with multiple flavors, found in every 7/11, everyone can get a Fried Pie.
"If you go up North and talk about a fried pie, they're like, 'What? What are you rednecks talking about?'
The Mennonites at Schlabach’s have answered 100s of questions from Ft. Campbell Personnel visiting the Bakery. These handheld, convenient & homemade traditions are hidden gems for people who discover them for the 1st time. And rarely is it their last!
I can remember my Grandmother coming out of the Root Cellar in Arkansas with a selection of dried fruits & I KNEW those yummy fried pies were in NEAR future! She'd start the skillet going with Crisco and put a pie in, then shape another one and put it in. They were sweet but not too sweet, and greasy goodness, slowly eaten, sitting on the back porch.
She made a dough from Crisco, milk and King Biscuit flour. She used to cut the circles of dough from a saucer or a tin can, sometimes. Mostly she knows how much dough each Pie requires & she rolls it out.
A recipe for Peach Fried Pies
Filling:
6 ounces dried peaches
2 1/2 cups water
1/4 to 1/2 cup sugar, according to taste
1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon butter
Dough:
2 cups all-purpose flour, preferably a low-gluten brand such as White Lily or Southern Biscuit
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, diced
6 to 8 tablespoons ice water
PLACE dried fruit and water in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and simmer about 40 minutes, until fruit is tender. Drain, then mash fruit coarsely with a pastry blender or potato masher. Add sugar, lemon juice, spices and butter. Set aside to cool.
COMBINE the flour, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add the butter and cut in with a pastry cutter or a fork until dough resembles coarse meal and the butter is completely distributed through the flour. Add 6 tablespoons ice water and toss dough lightly with a fork until it’s coming together into a mass. Add a little ice water if needed, then form dough into a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap or waxed paper and refrigerate at least 1 hour.
PUT about half the dough on a floured work surface. Roll out with a floured rolling pin to about 1/8 inch thick. Using a 4- to 6-inch saucer, cut out a couple of circles and set aside. Gather up scraps of dough, add more of the unrolled dough and roll out again, continuing to cut circles until the dough is used up.
WORKING with 3 or 4 circles at a time, place 2 to 3 tablespoons peach filling on each circle, fold the round in half and press the edges together firmly. Use a fork dipped in flour to crimp the edges.
HEAT about 2 cups vegetable or canola oil in a heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Cook the finished pies about 3 minutes per side, lowering heat if needed to keep them from scorching. Cool on paper towels and continue filling dough and frying pies.
Yield: 10 to 12 pies that will stop your clock!
Fried Apple Pies
Filling:
10 ounces dried apples (or a 6-ounce package)
1/2 cup sugar
Dough:
2 1/2 cups self-rising flour
1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening, chilled
2/3 cup buttermilk
Confectioners’ sugar, for serving
About 2 cups canola oil, for frying
PLACE the apples in a large bowl. Add 6 cups cold water. Cover and let stand 4 hours or overnight.
PUT the soaked apples and any remaining liquid in a large saucepan. Add 2 more cups water and the sugar. Bring to a boil and over high heat. Reduce heat to maintain a simmer and cook until the apples thicken up and begin to break down, about 1 hour. Remove from heat and use a pastry blender, potato masher or fork to mash the apples into a soft, chunky filling. Can be made ahead to this point and refrigerated up to 1 day.
PLACE the flour in a large mixing bowl. Cut in the shortening with a pastry blender, a fork or two knives until the flour resembles coarse meal. Add the buttermilk and stir until a dough forms. Place on a work surface lightly dusted with flour. Knead a few times, turning and dusting with a little flour, until smooth. Push the dough to one side of the work surface.
BREAK off a piece of dough about the size of a biscuit. Roll out into a 4-inch circle. Place about 2 tablespoons filling in the center. Fold the dough over. Press edges together to seal, then dip a fork in flour and crimp the edges.
HEAT the oil in a large, deep skillet over medium heat. It should be about 2 inches deep and should register about 350 degrees on a deep-fat thermometer.
MAKE and fry 1 or 2 pies at a time about 2 minutes per side, turning gently so you don’t splash the oil (it helps to use two spatulas). Drain on paper towels and dust with confectioners’ sugar. Continue with remaining dough and apples. Serve hot, warm or at room temperature.
