Mmmmmmm...Pie!

[roseland]

I was served store bought pumpkin pie at my Thanksgiving dinner. I was a guest so I suppose I should have been grateful but still...store bought! This will not effect my thank you gift but was I wrong to be inwardly horrified?

[chonies]

It depends--were they passing it off as their own? I love pumpkin pie so much I always make my own, buuuut I think it's a YMMV situation, especially since "homemade" pumpkin pie is usually a mix of three prefab items (a can of pumpkin, a can of evaporated milk, and a crust), why not just skip the show altogether? That said, if the rest of the dinner was delightfully artisanal, then it's kind of out of step. Also, I just had this conversation with my sisters: they bought their pies and roasted their turkey. I did both this year, but had it been me, I would have ordered a turkey and baked my own pies.

Or maybe their was a pie disaster and they had to subsitute at the last minute, silently afraid someone would notice and demand an explanation ; )

[ratscabies]

I have concerns.

Is this the right thread in which to be horrified by anyone giving one free pie?

😜

[scarlet]

I have zero issues with store-bought pie. I'm not a pie snob, and some of them are very good.

[divasahm]

I failed pie this year. I was tasked with making my dad's chocolate icebox pie, and both the one for my family's dinner and the one for Mr. d's family gathering yesterday came out liquid messes. Delicious, but messes nonetheless.

When I apologized to my baby brother for the drippy pie, he said, "I've made that pie several times, and I did the same thing the first few times--except mine was even worse. Here's the thing--I was expecting it to thicken and set when I put it in the fridge. That's not going to happen--you have to keep stirring it over the stove until it thickens to the density you want it to be when you serve it."

"But I keep thinking it's going to burn and I'll have to start over..."

"Exactly. It won't burn unless you stop stirring, and take it off the burner as soon as it hits that density point. Believe me, making this pie makes me nervous as a cat, but it's so good when it's right--just swallow your fear and keep stirring..."

This is the brother who lost his Houston home in Hurricane Harvey. He, his wife, and their two kids are living in a third-floor apartment with the bare necessities until they can finalize the sale of their property (they were already accepting offers--it's (still) a desirable neighborhood near downtown and the potential buyer intended to tear down the tiny 1920s cottage and build a larger, higher structure anyway) and find a place in a nearby suburb. The entire ordeal has humbled him back to his sweet childhood personality--I'm just sorry that a disaster is what it took to get him back. "Swallow your fear and keep stirring" will be my new mantra for 2018...

[chitowngirl]

I'm going to try to work "Swallow your fear and keep stirring" into everyday conversation.

[riosamba]

Nov 25, 2017 6:20:49 GMT -4 roseland said:

I was served store bought pumpkin pie at my Thanksgiving dinner. I was a guest so I suppose I should have been grateful but still...store bought! This will not effect my thank you gift but was I wrong to be inwardly horrified?

You behaved well, so I think your inward horror is ok. We have some amazing pie purveyors here, but I think I know what you mean by store pie, and I’m seeing something highly unpleasant to a pie person!

[Kaleidoscope Eyes]

Nov 25, 2017 12:10:48 GMT -4 scarlet said:

I have zero issues with store-bought pie. I'm not a pie snob, and some of them are very good.

I'm currently working my way through a Marie Callender's Southern Pecan Pie. I got it on sale yesterday. To really up the horror ante, I'll also admit to putting Cool Whip on it instead of fresh whipped cream. I'm enjoying it, but I must concede that fresh whipped cream is better than Cool Whip.

[mrspickles]

I confess to being a store bought pie server. I've tried many times to bake a pumpkin pie and have never been able to get it right, so in the interest of actually having an edible pumpkin pie I buy them. I make rhubarb pies and usually one other flavor that varies, but I don't even try the pumpkin pie anymore.

I will be in my room sewing the Scarlet P to my clothing.

[Oxynia]

As a life-long connoisseur inhaler of pies, I believe that pie is pie. Whether purchased as a convenience or lovingly crafted from scratch, as long as it is edible and on the table in front of me, I will be grateful.

It is an interesting question whether one would prefer to buy a pie and bake a turkey or the other way around. I love doing both, and it would depend on whether I was in more of a baker vs. chef mood. On the whole, if I had to choose I would probably make the turkey myself and buy a nice pie.