The Great American Pie Tour

As Easy as Eating Pie

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As presented in Grafton's Valley Messenger. Read Latest Edition

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For those of you just joining let’s recap: One of our regular customers told us he longs to drive across the United States, stop at diners along the road and just eat pie. Oh boy, what a great trip that would be! But, we thought, why go all the way to the States when we could do that right here in South Grafton! This is a tour of America’s most beloved food: pie.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

The Barbarian Spring Vegetable

The 9th of June marked Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Day in the States and we are so excited to proceed; but first we really need to talk about rhubarb.

Rhubarb is a native of China where the roots had been used medicinally to treat indigestion problems for many millenniums. It was brought to Europe for the same purposes by the Romans. Rhabarbarum is the original Latin word for rhubarb. Rha is the name of the plant that came from the barbarum, barbarian lands beyond the Vogel River. Who knew?

In England rhubarb was called Spring fruit and pie plant. Prior to the 1800s there isn’t any evidence that rhubarb was used culinarily. In 1772 Benjamin Franklin, a man with his finger on the pulse of all things, sent rhubarb seeds he found in Scotland to a botanist friend John Bartram of Philadelphia; but it wouldn’t be until after the Revolutionary War in the 1790s that rhubarb would be used for culinary purposes in early America, and then only after sugar became widely available. During World War II rhubarb as a tart or pie ingredient would be halted once again due to sugar rationing.

One last thing about rhubarb. It is a vegetable; however, legally, in America it is considered a fruit. In 1947, a New York court made the distinction that rhubarb is most often cooked as fruit and so will be, henceforth, known as a fruit in the United States. This distinction saved businesses who imported rhubarb a lot of money on taxes, of course.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie is a recipe that seems to have just appeared as a natural progression in the States. It’s hard to know if this pie was invented to elongate strawberries or to sweeten up rhubarb. Regardless, we’re excited to bring this staple of the diner pie set to South Grafton.

You can find posts of our recipe progress, "tips and secrets" and other updates on our Facebook page @coldbrewcafeaustralia. Search #greatamericanpietour to find our past posts and pies on the Great American Pie Tour and look for the final Strawberry Rhubarb Pie recipe in the next issue of the Valley Messenger.

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Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Recipe

We lean toward the tart of rhubarb in this recipe, but if you think ‘600g of filling’ you can make this pie as strawberr-ary or as rhybarb-ary as you desire. Fresh or frozen or a combination of the two will work for this pie!

For the Filling:

In a bowl, macerate while making the crust:
240g Strawberries (fresh or frozen)
360g Rhubarb (fresh or frozen)
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons butter

Paté Brisee:

This recipe makes 2 crusts for 9” pie.
You will need both for this pie
Split dough into two crusts by 340g per crust.

Weigh, cut into ½” pieces and freeze a minimum of 15 minutes (but longer is better)
250g Butter

In the bowl of a food processor fitted with blades pulse 10 times
340g all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar

Add Frozen butter pulse 12 more times
Add ½ cup very cold water pulse 12 more times.

Butter should be small pea size.
Dump crust mix into a bowl to finish flour distribution.

Compact and divide dough into two disks and refrigerate for minimum 1 hour.

Assemble:

With one disk of paté brisee crust rolled out to cover 9” pie pan.
Fill with macerated filling.
Roll out 2nd disc of paté brisee.
To make lattice top, cut into strips and basket weave over filling. Crimp edges together.
Bake 180 ℃ until filling is bubbling in the middle. At least 1 hour and up to 1 hour 20 minutes.
Serve with ice cream and Enjoy!

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