Unlocking the Secrets of Perfect Pie with Anne Carpenter
Anne Carpenter shares insights from her book 'You Had Me at Pie.' She gives tips for both novice and experienced bakers, and explores tools and techniques essential for successful pie-making including: pie crust techniques, various pie types including fruit pies, meringue pies, and custard pies.
We welcome Anne Carpenter, a seasoned baker and author of the book You Had Me at Pie. Anne shares insights into different types of pies, including fruit, custard, and transparent pies, along with expert tips on making the perfect pie crust, choosing the right ingredients, and essential baking tools. The conversation also delves into the rise of cooking at home post-Covid, pie classes at Kitchen Conservatory, and the merits of homemade vs. store-bought pies. The episode concludes with a look ahead at Anne's upcoming book on soups.
[00:00] Introduction and Warm-Up
[01:31] The Importance of Balance
[03:48] The Art of Pie Making
[04:10] Pie Preferences and Variations
[11:05] Pie Crust Mastery
[25:13] Fruit Pies and Thickeners
[27:15] Gelatin in Pies: When and Why
[27:43] Essential Pie-Making Tools
[29:54] Flour and Favorite Pies
[30:27] Cherry Pie Tips and Tricks
[31:38] Frozen Fruit for Pies
[32:19] Pie Classes and Pie Day
[33:05] Mincemeat and Raisin Pies
[35:53] Pot Pies and Savory Pies
[37:13] Meringue Pies: Challenges and Tips
[39:04] Cobbler: A Simple Alternative
[41:48] Pie Baking Tips and Tricks
[45:31] Upcoming Projects and Soup Book
[50:40] Closing Thoughts and Farewell
This is Season 7! For more episodes, go to stlintune.com
#piemaking #piecrust #baking #cherrypie #reedypress #bakingpies #potpies #fruitpies #piebaking
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00:00 - None
00:23 - Introduction to St. Louis in Tune
03:48 - The Art of Pie Making
27:42 - The Art of Pie Crust
29:54 - The Art of Pie Making
46:15 - Transitioning to Comfort Foods
Arnold Stricker
What do you like to eat for breakfast? Our guest thinks that the only thing better than a warm pie is leftover pie for breakfast on St. Louis in June. Welcome to St.
Louis in Tune and thank you for joining us for fresh perspectives on issues and events with experts, community leaders and everyday people who make a difference in shaping our society and world. I'm Arnold Stricker along with co host Mark Langston. Mark. It's been a while, sir.
Mark Langston
It has. The holidays snuck up on us. At least the Thanksgiving holidays. I have tucked my belly in and I am back.
Arnold Stricker
You let a belt link out or something?
Mark Langston
A couple of them, I'm afraid. I know. It gets worse every year. I don't.
Arnold Stricker
Every year the pants they get, they shrink.
Mark Langston
And that pecan pie. Oh, my.
Arnold Stricker
Oh, yeah, pies. We're gonna talk about pies.
Mark Langston
Yeah, it's all. Pecan pie. Is all. It's sugar. I think it's just sugar.
Arnold Stricker
It's got pecans in it.
Mark Langston
Oh, does it? Okay.
Arnold Stricker
We haven't been together for so long. I did not get my Return to Civility book out.
Mark Langston
Oh, it's time to return. It's been a challenging month that I've been.
Arnold Stricker
It has been. It has been. And I can give us some civility that's not humorous, something that's actually serious.
Because sometimes with the way life goes, sometimes I think the last show we did was just, what, right after the election and some people were losing their minds and some people were having fun, their candidate won and everything like that. But you have to understand that life needs to be in balance.
And it's important that we keep things in balance, that we don't go off track and we don't decide to rely on individuals for our happiness or to rely on things that are happening in the world to determine what we should do. Live life. You can't worry about what's going to be happening tomorrow.
And I know you need to save for the rainy day, but at the same time, you need to not let life stop. And some people do that. They just put things on hold and very beneficial. I actually can't find a good one. All these things are funny.
Mark Langston
Maybe at this point we could use funny. But. Yes. You said a word that I think is great is balance. There's so much balance for me is like that magical word. We need balance.
Everybody needs balance all the time on everything.
Arnold Stricker
Yeah.
Mark Langston
And I don't want it to be all Republican all the time and I don't want it to be all Democrat all the time. We need a Balance in there.
Arnold Stricker
And I want it to be focused on the people.
Mark Langston
Wouldn't that be a novel idea?
Arnold Stricker
You're talking about balance. We used to talk about this at work is people, they don't like change. And change is disequilibrium.
And when your disequilibrium is equilibrium, you can really ebb and flow with whatever comes your way.
But that's a difficult place to get to when you can move ebb and flow with things and when you're bouncing back and forth and that becomes the norm when change is the norm. Change is happening all the time. We're growing older. I know you aren't, Mark, but.
Mark Langston
Oh, yes, I am. Talk to my knees.
Arnold Stricker
Yeah, but you know what I'm talking.
Mark Langston
Totally, absolutely.
Arnold Stricker
So that's our return to civility balancing.
Mark Langston
Very heavy. We're opening the show very heavy, aren't we?
Arnold Stricker
But we're going to go delving into an area that's juicy and it's got my chops licking here. The art of pie making. Ann Carpenter, author and baker, is in studio talking about her book, you Had Me at Pie, anne. Welcome to St. Louis in Tune.
Anne Carpenter
Thank you very much, Arnold, for having me.
Arnold Stricker
What's the title?
Anne Carpenter
You Had Me at Pie.
Arnold Stricker
You Had Me at Pie. Explain that for us.
Mark Langston
I'm with her.
Anne Carpenter
Do you ever turn down pie?
Arnold Stricker
I usually don't.
Anne Carpenter
Yeah. Pie will bring balance in your life.
Mark Langston
Yes.
Anne Carpenter
Pie will make you happy.
Mark Langston
It will.
Arnold Stricker
Pie will make you happy. And you choose pie over cake?
Anne Carpenter
Always. Always. You choose a wet dessert over a dry dessert.
Mark Langston
I get that.
Anne Carpenter
Cake is dry, cake is stale, pie is flaky. Pastry crust, gooey center.
Arnold Stricker
There's one place I will buy cake in the city of St. Louis.
Mark Langston
Okay, let's hear it.
Arnold Stricker
Cakery Bakery. Shameful plug for Cakery Bakery. Great, great cake.
Mark Langston
Never heard of it.
Arnold Stricker
Even cupcakes, they have a place called the cup right behind the chase.
Mark Langston
Yeah, I have pie for breakfast even.
Anne Carpenter
By the way, pie for breakfast is totally delicious. Because after all, it's fruit.
Mark Langston
I do.
Anne Carpenter
It's crust. Why is that not a perfect breakfast? People often ask me, what about? How do I make this healthy?
And my answer is, your mental health just as important as your physical health.
Arnold Stricker
Oh, there you go. So I have that extra piece of.
Anne Carpenter
Does eating delicious food make you happy?
Arnold Stricker
Oh, yeah.
Anne Carpenter
So therefore, delicious food is health food.
Arnold Stricker
Where did you. When did you start all this?
Anne Carpenter
Oh, I've been baking pies since I was a child. I always loved to mess around in the kitchen. And it took me a while to figure Out.
This was going to be my life's work, but there was never a time I wasn't baking.
Arnold Stricker
You teach it's been, what, 30 plus years at Kitchen conservatory.
Anne Carpenter
Yes.
Arnold Stricker
And the new digs are really nice out there on Manchester Road.
Anne Carpenter
On January 1st of this year, we moved to Manchester Road to a new building and we increased from two kitchens to three teaching kitchens.
Arnold Stricker
Wow, that's great.
Mark Langston
Is that right by the schnooks?
Arnold Stricker
Across the street, the old bowling alley? Where? The old bowling alley.
Mark Langston
I've driven by it and I've.
Anne Carpenter
Next door to Carl's. Drive in. That's the spot everybody knows.
Mark Langston
Absolutely.
Arnold Stricker
Some good smash burgers.
Mark Langston
Oh, yeah. And IBC root beer. Great place. I'll be talking. I see them doing classes and things there.
Anne Carpenter
Yeah, we do classes and things every day. We do 30 cooking classes a week.
Mark Langston
Holy smokes.
Anne Carpenter
On 30 different topics.
Arnold Stricker
Oh, yeah. And you can get a brochure which.
Mark Langston
Add a little more.
Arnold Stricker
My wife and I, we were going to a Valentine's Day kind of cooking together and great place to buy the equipment. You have to have equipment.
Anne Carpenter
6,000 essential cooking tools.
Arnold Stricker
That's right. There's good stuff there.
Mark Langston
Is that right?
Arnold Stricker
Absolutely. Go there for good stuff.
Mark Langston
We're gonna have to go there.
Arnold Stricker
That's what the kids get us for Christmas. Kitchen utensil stuff.
Mark Langston
Okay.
Arnold Stricker
Kitchen supply kinds of things.
Mark Langston
This is pretty neat. So it's just west of Brentwood Boulevard.
Arnold Stricker
West of Brentwood. Right.
Mark Langston
On the north side on Manchester.
Arnold Stricker
Yeah.
Mark Langston
Okay, I'm coming by.
Arnold Stricker
So you've been doing this and I think there's a thousand kinds of different pies because you have fruit pies, you have non. What you called it something that I wasn't up from. Transparent pies.
Anne Carpenter
So transparent pie, a custard pie is eggs and cream. So when you set a pie with eggs but there's no cream, that's a transparent pie.
Arnold Stricker
And those are very interesting. Those are very interesting.
Anne Carpenter
That's what a pecan pie is. A transparent pie.
Arnold Stricker
Okay. With pecans, Mark.
Mark Langston
My favorite. Just my favorite. That's all I can tell you.
Anne Carpenter
Would you like it, Mark, if we just did the syrup and sugar and eggs and dispensed with the pecans?
Arnold Stricker
That's a chess pie then.
Anne Carpenter
Well, a chess pie usually has some. It usually has some. What do you call it, some little cornmeal in it to give it a little grit and a little texture on it.
And the pecan pie doesn't have any of that flour in it. But actually if you take the pecans out and you add some may, you've made a maple syrup pie.
Mark Langston
Oh, stop.
Anne Carpenter
And the Canadians love that, eh?
Mark Langston
What?
Arnold Stricker
You put that on your pancake.
Anne Carpenter
It's got crust on it. So it's already on the pancake.
Arnold Stricker
Okay, so I have this question as you were talking about that.
Mark Langston
I'm gonna ask that.
Arnold Stricker
I really love key lime pie also. Key lime pie is what kind of pie?
Mark Langston
Oh, my.
Arnold Stricker
Is that a just. Cause it's like a combo.
Anne Carpenter
No, key lime's a custard pie because there's cream and eggs.
Arnold Stricker
Okay.
Anne Carpenter
So if you think of lemon meringue, that's a meringue pie. Cause you got a meringue on top. I actually think key lime is really good with a meringue on top. Like a lemon meringue.
Arnold Stricker
Yeah, it is. And key lime. I had good key lime pie down in New Orleans or Nolens, and it was almost gray. It was like a little grayish green.
Anne Carpenter
So you mean they didn't put the food coloring in, so it was real limes that they used?
Arnold Stricker
Yes.
Mark Langston
Wow.
Arnold Stricker
It was really good.
Anne Carpenter
Now in Florida, they do some kind of key lime piece where they use a salted pretzel crust. Where's the name for that? It's, I don't know, beach pie or something like that, as they call it. Yeah.
Arnold Stricker
Ooh.
Mark Langston
Oh, you should have brought samples with you. I'm just saying so you could have them for breakfast. I know. She should have brought samples. I don't know what.
Anne Carpenter
I think that's cruel to the listeners to hear you enjoying food that they can.
Mark Langston
Oh, I don't think so. I think it's absolutely fine just slobbering.
Arnold Stricker
All over their radios right now.
Anne Carpenter
In cooking class, a lot of times people will call and say, do we get to eat the food? And I say, it would be awfully cruel if you make all this food and then say, no, no food for you.
Arnold Stricker
We're giving this away. Or the teacher just eats it in front of the students.
Mark Langston
Oh, my.
Arnold Stricker
All right, I've got so many gazillion questions here. Do you put. Okay, so this one's just popping right out because I have to get the answer to this.
Do you put ice cream or whipped cream on top of any of your pies that you eat?
Anne Carpenter
Absolutely. Maybe sometimes both. But some pies just demand to have a topping on it.
Now, you don't need a topping on meringue pie because that's self contained with its meringue topping. But I think an apple pie with ice cream and a pumpkin pie with Whipped cream. Is anything better?
Arnold Stricker
Yeah. Yeah.
Mark Langston
Probably not. Yeah.
Arnold Stricker
Have you ever used huckleberries in a pie?
Anne Carpenter
I have, but they're hard to find.
Arnold Stricker
They're hard to find. I had huckleberry pie a long time ago, and it was. Maybe it was how it was made. It was. It didn't taste very good.
Anne Carpenter
It did not. It didn't have enough sugar in it. Because huckleberries are tart. They're very tart. And do you know what defines it? Huckleberry is wild.
So they're not cultivated. That's why in the Tom the Mark Twain novel, the hero is Huckleberry Finn, because he's untamed.
Arnold Stricker
So there we go.
Mark Langston
I love. You know what? I learned something new on the show every time I tune in. That makes so much sense when you say that. Who knew?
Anne Carpenter
Now you have to reread the novel to see.
Mark Langston
I'm gonna have to. And I will keep that in the.
Arnold Stricker
Yes, the Untamed.
Mark Langston
Like you. It's a lot like you, Arnold. Untamed.
Arnold Stricker
My name Arnold Huckle. Huckleberry Stricker.
Mark Langston
Yeah. Untamed.
Arnold Stricker
Arnold. Okay, okay. All right. Let's start at the basic thing which people struggle with is the crust. Ann.
Anne Carpenter
Yes. It's foundational to the pie.
Arnold Stricker
What mistakes do people make? And now what should they do other than buy your book? Because you have a great recipe in there on crust?
Because crust is really what to me, besides the goo? I call it the goo, but it really distinguishes.
Anne Carpenter
Using the technical term there, I was.
Arnold Stricker
Saying it distinguishes, you know, a store bought Mrs. Smith's from one man. You got a flaky crust on top that apple pie. It's just incredible.
Anne Carpenter
Have you ever eaten a pie, been served a pie, and you end up eating filling and you leave the crust on the plate because the crust isn't very good?
Mark Langston
Yes.
Anne Carpenter
We can't have that. So in my book, I do step by step photographs of exactly what you should do at each step of the way.
And because I think this is where people get frustrated. They think it's too difficult. They really panic about the crust. But we can solve this problem if you have a piece of French tart.
It is a all butter crust and the crust supports the filling. So imagine you can eat that tart out of your hand. You can pick it up because the crust is sturdy enough to support the filling.
That's not what pie is. Pie is flaky, but it's also tender. And so you want to get that balance of flaky and tender. So that pie is messy.
Because a messy pie is a better tasting pie. Here's how. My trick is that it's 50% butter for flavor and 50% shortening for texture. Because butter will never make a tender crust.
It'll make a flaky crust, but not a tender crust. And the shortening makes a super tender crust.
Now, if you think of grandma's pie, which was probably an all lard crust that was super tender, but it didn't have the butter taste.
Arnold Stricker
And it's always better with butter.
Anne Carpenter
That's our motto at kitchen Conservatory. Have you ever found anything that wasn't improved by butter?
Arnold Stricker
No. If it doesn't taste good, just put a tablespoon of butter in or a stick.
Mark Langston
I'm all about the stick of butter.
Arnold Stricker
Some require that. Some recipes require a whole stick of butter, which is real butter.
Mark Langston
Let's talk about butter.
Anne Carpenter
Well, what we're making here is we're not making salad, we're making dessert. So we need the dessert to be worth the calories.
Arnold Stricker
Now, some people will say, can I substitute margarine? Tell them why they can't do that, Ann.
Anne Carpenter
It doesn't have the flavor.
Mark Langston
There it is right there. I don't even know why they make margarine. But okay.
Arnold Stricker
To clog people's arteries.
Mark Langston
Must be. Doctors are doing it.
Arnold Stricker
So we get the crust. Now what about pans? There's different sizes. What should an average pie size pie.
Anne Carpenter
Plates can run from 8 inch, 9 inch, 10 inch. And really you can use the same crust, recipe and the same filling between an 8, 9 and 10. And in the 8, your pie is going to be a little taller.
In the 10, it's going to be a little bit wider, but it'll work in any size pan. Use the pans you have and your.
Arnold Stricker
Recipe covers all of those sizes.
Anne Carpenter
Yeah, you can, you may have to roll out the crust a little thinner for a 10 inch and it'll be a little thicker on an 8 inch, but it's in the end it's going to be delicious.
Arnold Stricker
Okay, now let's. You're really getting, we're getting down into brass tacks on crust here. How thick?
And I know it's going to determine the size of your pan, but how thick should generally the crust be?
Anne Carpenter
So the thickness of the crust has nothing to do with the flakiness and tenderness of the crust. The way my recipe works, it's a 2 cup measure. So for a double crust. So 1 cup of flour per crust.
So that means it's the same amount of dough for the bottom crust. As it is for the top crust.
But the bottom crust is going to be a little thinner because you have to go up the sides of the pie plate and the top crust is going to be a little thicker because the diameter of the top is not as big as the diameter of the bottom. But it's all good.
Arnold Stricker
And then you do your little pinchies at the side and things like that.
Anne Carpenter
Crimping the crust for a fluted pie crust edge.
Mark Langston
Man, I'm glad she's here.
Arnold Stricker
Crimping.
Mark Langston
That's right.
Arnold Stricker
Me pinching.
Mark Langston
Yeah, you're pinching. Yeah, you're all wrong. You need to take the class, get the terminology correct. That's right.
Arnold Stricker
So lattice crust, top lattice. No. You don't like that.
Mark Langston
I'm not a big fan either.
Anne Carpenter
You need a really sturdy, tough dough to do the lattice weave. And that's not a dough you want to eat.
Arnold Stricker
Okay.
Mark Langston
Yes.
Arnold Stricker
It's going to be tough.
Anne Carpenter
Yeah. It's not going to be tender. So with my pie crust recipe, you cannot make a lattice because you can't do the weaver.
Arnold Stricker
Okay.
Mark Langston
I think it takes away from the cooking of the pie, too. Could be just me, but it just seems like it does.
Anne Carpenter
I think they devised lattice crust for the food stylist devised it because then you see the berries busting out of the pie and it looks cute. But I'm all in about the taste.
Mark Langston
Yep.
Arnold Stricker
Yeah, yeah.
Mark Langston
Not the looks. We want to taste it. What's it gonna look like in your belly? We don't care about the looks.
Arnold Stricker
What are you doing there?
Mark Langston
I don't know. I'm over here.
Arnold Stricker
This is Arnold Stricker with Mark Langston. We're talking to Ann Carpenter about her book, you had me at Pie, and it's available at Reedy Press. And it's.
I'm going to just run through a little of the contents here. A double crusted fruit pies, custard pies, meringue pies, transparent pies, chocolate pies, not pie. We're going to get to that one.
But she also has tips for the perfect pie dough to blind bake pie. Graham cracker pie crust. Graham cracker pie crust is really what's challenging about that.
Anne Carpenter
My graham cracker pie crust is not the graham cracker pie crust you're thinking about.
Arnold Stricker
Okay.
Anne Carpenter
So what I do. Because you see the problem with usually a graham cracker crust, which on a key lime pie is just graham cracker crumbs and melted butter. Meh.
What's the. There's no pastry there. I'm a Pastry girl. I want pastry. Flaky, tender pastry.
So what I do is I take my perfect pie dough, and instead of rolling it out in flour, I roll it out in graham cracker crumbs. So I get the nuttiness of the graham crackers, but still the flakiness of pastry. It's very good with a pumpkin pie.
Arnold Stricker
Ooh. And you said something in the book about pumpkin pie that was. Should we say that?
Mark Langston
Yes. Let's hear it.
Anne Carpenter
So what is pumpkin?
Arnold Stricker
Yeah, go ahead.
Mark Langston
It's a. What is it a vegetable?
Arnold Stricker
It's a gourd.
Mark Langston
It's a gourd.
Anne Carpenter
It's a squash.
Arnold Stricker
Yeah.
Anne Carpenter
And so if you. The Libby. The cans of Libby pumpkin all come from Morton, Illinois. All of the pumpkin for Libby is grown in the fields around Morton, Illinois.
About three hours north of here. The cannery is in the field. They have hybridized a kind of butternut squash that's a little bit more orangey in color and huge.
So they get more squash per plant, and they put them right into. And they pack them right into the can as soon as they. They harvest them. So what you're eating in the can is actually butternut squash.
So I always say a fresh butternut squash is better than a canned pumpkin.
Arnold Stricker
Okay. And she even goes into how you take care of that butternut squash to get it going, get it right. All the cooking and everything.
Anne Carpenter
It's the best pumpkin pie you've ever eaten. And, of course, what I tell my students is, don't tell your friends and family that they're eating squash pie, because that just doesn't have the.
The cachet. Tell them it's pumpkin pie, and they'll say, wow, is this pumpkin pie? So much better.
Arnold Stricker
I'm telling somebody it's pumpkin pie and it's sweet potato pie. Have you ever made a sweet potato pie?
Anne Carpenter
Sweet potatoes taste different. That's a. What is it? It's a different kind of plant. But sweet potatoes have no connection to squash, and they have a very different flavor.
Arnold Stricker
Interesting.
Mark Langston
Wow.
Arnold Stricker
This is why we are having Ann on the show today.
Mark Langston
I am thankful for it.
Arnold Stricker
Yes. Because she goes, apples. And. And this is another thing about apple pie. You have to get the right kind of apples.
Mark Langston
I'm with you there. I'm finicky when it comes to apple pie.
Anne Carpenter
So an apple for eating is not an apple for cooking, right?
Mark Langston
Ooh.
Anne Carpenter
Yes. So the apples you enjoy eating usually are not designed for long cooking, and you want a tart apple for cooking, and you don't want.
Have you noticed that the apples in the store now are the size of grapefruits. They're enormous. And all that means is that there's less fruit flavor and more water in them. So that's just going to be a watery pie.
Those big jumbo apples. I also don't understand. With the apples they've developed, you go into the grocery store, they all have porn star names. Envy, Jazz, honeycrisp.
What is this? These are not real apples.
Arnold Stricker
Corn apples. That's it.
Mark Langston
I love it. It's true. She's right in the world.
Anne Carpenter
I know those are apples we're not baking pie with.
Arnold Stricker
I hope not. The other thing about, gosh, just going into the store and seeing the quality, I should say the lack of quality of produce is just unbelievable.
So when you purchase things for your pies, do you go to a farmer's market? Do you go just to the regular grocery store? And like, when you're looking for apples, are you looking for smaller apples?
Are you looking for those that are ripe or semi ripe or not so ripe because of the tartness? What are you looking for?
Anne Carpenter
The apples that I really like for pie are. Jonathan and Macintosh are very good, but they're a little harder to find. And then it really goes down from there.
Now, some of the farmers markets in August and September will have some good apples. Size is usually a big indicator. Go for smaller apples because that means a less. Less water content, and that's going to give you a better pie.
Arnold Stricker
Okay. Picked right off the tree or let them sit for a while or.
Anne Carpenter
Apples usually will store very well, but they need to be stored in refrigeration to store well. But we want to. The apples are usually harvested August, September, and then if we want to eat them in December, you have to store them.
Arnold Stricker
Okay.
Mark Langston
Ay, ay, ay.
Arnold Stricker
I've got a whole lot more questions.
Mark Langston
Do you?
Arnold Stricker
We're going to take a little break here. We're talking to Ann Carpenter. She is the author of youf Had Me at Pie. This is Arnold Stricker with Mark Langston. We'll be right back.
This is Arnold Stricker of St. Louis in tune on behalf of the Dred Scott Heritage Foundation.
In 1857, the Dred Scott decision was a major legal event and catalyst that contributed to the Civil War. The decision declared that Dred Scott could not be free because he was not a citizen.
The 14th Amendment, also called the Dred Scott Amendment, granted citizenship to all born or naturalized here in our country and was intended to overturn the US Supreme Court decision on July 9, 1868.
The Dred Scott Heritage foundation is requesting a commemorative stamp to be issued from the US Postal Service to recognize and remember the heritage of this amendment by issuing a stamp with the likeness of the man Dred Scott. But we need your support and the support of thousands of people who would like to see this happen.
To achieve this goal, we ask you to download, sign and share the one page petition with others. To find the petition, please go to dredscottlives.org and click on the Dred Scott Petition Drive on the right side of the page.
On behalf of the Dred Scott Heritage foundation, this has been Arnold Stricker of St. Louis in Tune.
Mark Langston
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Arnold Stricker
Welcome back to St. Louis in tune. This is Arnold Stricker with Mark Langston.
We're talking to Ann Carpenter about her book you Had Me at Pie, and she's been teaching cooking classes on how to make pie for more than 30 years. And that is done at the Kitchen Conservatory on Manchester Road.
I am reading here every year on the day before Thanksgiving, she guides two dozen people in making their holiday pies of pumpkin, apple and pecan. Or pecan depending upon what part of the country you're from. Yeah, she grew up making homemade pie dough for apple and blueberry pies.
I love blueberry pie. Oh, then as an adult, she discovered cherry pie. I love cherry pies too. With the cherries from her backyard trees, she always chooses pie over cake.
For dessert, black raspberry pie is really good too. If you can find black raspberries, you.
Anne Carpenter
Can find black raspberries at some of the farmers markets. But the challenge with raspberries in a pie is they're very wet. So raspberries and strawberries, when you just cook them up, you have like soup.
And so I think if you're going to do a. If you're going to use any kind of raspberry in a pie, you need to mix it with another fruit because you won't have any substance for your filling.
Arnold Stricker
Now, I was reading you maybe do two of these methods, but maybe you do both. You drain and then cook down the juice, and then you also add something to the juice or the jus to thicken it.
Anne Carpenter
A fruit pie is fruit and sugar. But if you cook fruit and sugar, you have sauce, it's wet, and if it's wet, it's just. It's very hard to eat with a fork.
So what you want to do for apple and cherry, what I do is I sugar the fruit, let it sit, and then for a couple of hours, and then I use a sieve to separate the juice from the fruit. I take that juice, which can be a couple of cups. When you draw out the water from the fruit, you can have a lot of liquid.
I then boil that down and make a syrup that goes back into the filling. So I concentrate the flavor of the fruit and I get rid of all that excess water. Even you need to have a thickener in your pie filling.
And grandma always used flour, but flour is a very poor thickener and flour is very pasty. So I prefer using a starch.
Cornstarch is fine, but my favorite is potato starch because I find with cornstarch you can always taste that it has cornstarch in it. Potato starch is a very neutral flavor. And you just taste the fruit. It's fruit forward pie.
And you don't realize that there's starch in potato starch used to be much harder to find, but with the rise of the gluten free diets, it's in all the grocery stores now.
Arnold Stricker
What about seeing some people have used gelatin to thicken that stuff?
Anne Carpenter
You usually don't use gelatin in a pie because gelatin is firm when it's cold.
Arnold Stricker
Okay. Oh, there you go.
Anne Carpenter
So sometimes you'll use gelatin in an icebox pie, but if it's a fruit pie. The gelatin isn't going to help you because you serve that at warmer room temperature and that's still going to be liquid.
Arnold Stricker
They're going to be gooey. Now, as I'm thinking about people listening to the show and maybe they've experimented with pies and they think it's a little too difficult.
What are the basic kinds of tools that they need to accomplish a successful pie?
Anne Carpenter
You do need a rolling pin to roll out the dough in order. I like to use a pastry blender in order to cut the fat into the flour.
And then a tool that I think needs to be in every kitchen is called a bench knife. It's a little block of stainless steel, a square of stainless steel.
And that helps you move the dough around on the board, make sure it's not sticking underneath, and helps you to get orient the dough into the pie plate. And then I do use a rolling mat, a little silicone mat, because that keeps my countertop clean.
And it also is flexible for me to roll out the dough without it sticking too badly.
Arnold Stricker
Now there's. People don't cook anymore. It seems like they don't bake anymore. They've forgotten how to do that stuff. That's why they buy all this stuff.
But go and go into the real detail because you know it's. And folks, you need to go to the classes because that's the ultimate. Because then you get the hands on.
You see the equipment, if you like the equipment. Like I don't have that. You can buy that at kitchen conservatory. But go through. Because you need to put flour down on the mat.
You need to put flour on your rolling pin. Do all these things.
Anne Carpenter
I like to flour the dough. I don't flour the pin. But that's interesting. That's just my technique on that. But I think it's true that a lot of people don't cook.
But I think there is a hunger and a desire for those smells and baking in the home kitchen. And we saw that post Covid with the rise of sourdough bread and notice my pun.
Mark Langston
But I was gonna say, how is that getting by us?
Anne Carpenter
But so there are a lot of people who are getting very into some of these specialized baking arts and mastering them in their own kitchen. Because the pleasure is the smell, the taste, the I did this. This is my product from my own hand.
And anything you bake in your own kitchen is going to be better than anything you buy.
Arnold Stricker
Yes. Now let's talk about flour. What kind of flour should we buy? Gold Medal everyday flour, or I know there's King Arthur flour.
There's a lot of bunch of different kinds of flour.
Anne Carpenter
I use all purpose flour in my pie dough, and I think you can use any brand.
Arnold Stricker
Okay. All right.
Mark Langston
That's good.
Arnold Stricker
You heard it from the source there, right? All right. And your favorite pie is what, Anne?
Anne Carpenter
Cherry.
Mark Langston
Ooh, I'm with you. I like cherry. A good cherry pie.
Arnold Stricker
A nice scoop of vanilla bean ice cream on top.
Anne Carpenter
It's very important. The type of cherries that you use for cherry pie, you want to use what's called pie cherries or Montmorency, and they're small and tart.
So you can't make a cherry pie with bing cherry. They don't have the right texture or taste for a pie. This goes back to the apple conversation.
The fruit you eat is not the same as the fruit you bake with.
Arnold Stricker
Right.
Anne Carpenter
You want to have. You want to have something tartar and with a bigger punch to it.
Arnold Stricker
Do you get frozen? Do you buy fresh? And then you have to pit them and everything like that.
Anne Carpenter
So there's the challenge with cherries. As you mentioned, I have a cherry tree in my Montmorency cherry tree in my backyard, which means I have to get out the ladder.
I got to climb up, I got to pick the cherries. I then have to. To pit the cherries and to prepare them for processing for the pie.
Or at the end of July, you can get in your car, you can drive nine hours to Door County, Wisconsin, and you buy the cherries. Not only picked, they're pitted. And then you drive back, and then you have cherry.
You know, I get a couple hundred pounds of cherries, and I figure one or two cherry pies a week is about the right amount.
Arnold Stricker
And you freeze. Can you freeze them?
Anne Carpenter
Yeah, they freeze very well. Some fruit freeze very well. Blueberries, blackberries, cherries, they all freeze very well. The only caveat I give.
If you've got frozen fruit that you're going to put in a pie, you must defrost the fruit completely before making your pie, because what a freezer does is that it breaks up the cells in the fruit, just like the freeze will freeze your pipes in your house. So what happens is all the cells burst out with the water. You get this big puddle of liquid.
You don't want to put that big puddle of liquid in your pie.
Arnold Stricker
No doubt.
Mark Langston
Wow. My head's spinning. This is all good stuff.
Arnold Stricker
It really is. And I can't believe that. I can believe because it's a great time to do it right before Thanksgiving in teaching people.
But how often do you do these classes on pie making?
Anne Carpenter
We have pie classes regularly because there's a desire for pie. But there's no question the day before. Thanks. Thanksgiving. I call it our pie day because we did this year. We did 75 pies that day.
Arnold Stricker
Wow. Now do. This is going to be. All right, here's a curveball. Do you have a pie class on PI day?
Anne Carpenter
We have. We have. Of course. I understand that's now been renamed St. Louis Day.
Arnold Stricker
That's true. Yeah. 314 day.
Anne Carpenter
But when we do it on pie day, we try to do a savory pie. It's not just the dessert pies. But do a meat pie or a.
Arnold Stricker
A meat pie. What is mincemeat pie?
Anne Carpenter
Mincemeat is a. Is dried fruits and candied rind all cooked together. And then. And they. The reason why they you.
There are some old fashioned versions that will have meat in it, but usually it's the beef fat that's in there. And that fat. Beef fat's a great flavor.
Arnold Stricker
Oh yeah.
Anne Carpenter
Just like pork fat is a great flavor. So it's.
The fruit is cooked in this fat and you cook it all up and can it and then it's available for when you just dump it into a pie shell and make a pie out of it. But it's. It's actually I don't have a mincemeat pie recipe in this book, but I have something that's a little similar. It's the raisin pie.
So if you look at my raisin pie recipe that has a lot of the same kinds of fruits that are in mincemeat pie.
Arnold Stricker
I remember growing up, of course they were Mrs. Smiths. My mom never made the pies. And this mince meat pie, the most disgusting thing that it's like eating a fruitcake.
Mark Langston
My dad liked mincemeat pie. I was sitting here just thinking about that. It's rough. I never could do it.
Arnold Stricker
No, I couldn't either. Well, very interesting.
Anne Carpenter
What's. I think it's because you got fixated on the word meat and you weren't actually thinking. You didn't know what the ingredients were. So I think.
Do you like raisins?
Arnold Stricker
Oh, I love raisins.
Anne Carpenter
Okay, so if I said raisin pie, does that sound more enticing?
Arnold Stricker
I'd probably try that. Yeah.
Anne Carpenter
So you got it. Raisin apple pie. That's a lot of what mincemeat pie is. It just has a lot of them in. And fruitcake Then we have to talk fruitcake.
I bet I could make you a fruitcake where you're like, oh, yeah, this is. After all, what's. Fruitcake is just a vehicle for brandy and rum.
Arnold Stricker
That's true. And to pass it around from year to year because nobody wants to eat it. It's regifted for several days, adding more rum. Yeah.
Anne Carpenter
Wow.
Arnold Stricker
The other nice thing about that you've done here in the book is you give these tips on variety of pages. But I'm going to talk about the tip for the Fresh Concord grape pie. Fresh Concord grapes are available only in August and September.
Each grape needs to be squeezed to remove the seeds. But this pie is worth the effort once a year. You could do this by calendar and schedule when the fruit is in season.
Anne Carpenter
You don't want to eat a peach pie. Not in the summer.
Arnold Stricker
No.
Anne Carpenter
It's only July and August that we're eating peach pieces.
Arnold Stricker
That's right. And I like white peach pie.
Mark Langston
Okay.
Arnold Stricker
Versus yellow peach.
Mark Langston
That's different.
Arnold Stricker
Yeah, it is a little different flavor.
Mark Langston
This is a weird question. What about pot pies? Do you do those at all?
Anne Carpenter
Oh, yes. Pot pies are usually meat based. So we're back to the meat here.
But you have a chicken pot pie or any steak and kidney pie, as the British always like to do. But it's just. You have a. In a pot pie, you then have your. Really your soup in the bowl and then you top it with a pie crust and bake and eat it. The.
The other version of that is pasty, where it's a turnover and the pasties are filled with meat and vegetables.
Arnold Stricker
Calzone. Similar.
Anne Carpenter
It is like a calzone, except it comes from Wales.
Arnold Stricker
Okay. Wow.
Mark Langston
Wow. I love pot pies. Chicken pot pie.
Anne Carpenter
Yeah.
Arnold Stricker
When we have to qualify this or for those people who think there's hashish in it, but it's. There's. There's. There's no pot in this.
Mark Langston
I'm so sorry about.
Arnold Stricker
There's no pot in a pot pie.
Anne Carpenter
But we have a class called High on Pot Pies, so there you go.
Mark Langston
Now you're confused.
Arnold Stricker
You have to play with it. And they have catchy titles at Kitchen Conservatory.
Anne Carpenter
We like to have fun with our food.
Arnold Stricker
They really do. They really do. We've taken several classes there. It's a lot of fun. Mark, you need to go there with Maria.
Mark Langston
I'm going to. I'm thinking about this afternoon over there.
Arnold Stricker
The most challenging pie that you've ever had to make. What is that?
Anne Carpenter
I think people usually find meringue pies to be the most challenging.
Arnold Stricker
Why is that?
Anne Carpenter
Well, if you think about your grandma's recipe for a lemon meringue pie, or if you ever had one of those, sometimes, and it's first you have to bake the pie crust. We bake it blind because the blame blind. Blind baking is when you put a cold filling into a pie.
And so you need to have your crust fully baked before you put your filling in. So when you. And if you just put the dough in the pie plate and stick it in the oven, the sides will fold down and the bottom will pop up.
So you don't have a cavity. So you need to line. You lay your pie dough in your pie plate.
You line it with aluminum foil and fill it with pie weights, which then will keep the shape of the cavity. You bake it until the pastry is baked. You take it out, you take out your pie weight, and then you can fill it with your filling.
Sometimes people have lemon meringue pies where the lemon filling didn't sit up, but they don't realize that till they cut into it because they've put the meringue on it. You put your meringue on it back in the oven. It's a complicated step to make a lemon meringue pie.
So I actually, instead of my lemon meringue filling is a lemon curd, which is much easier to make. It's a stovetop lemon, where it's lemon, butter, sugar, eggs, and you cook it till it comes to a boil, and then.
And then you can put that in your pie filling. And that's always firm when it's cold. Interesting, because the butter keeps it cold. Firm, I should say. Cold butter will keep it firm.
Arnold Stricker
Butter again.
Anne Carpenter
Yes. You notice a theme here with dessert. We like our butter.
Mark Langston
Stick of butter.
Arnold Stricker
The stick of butter.
Mark Langston
I'm the stick of butter guy.
Arnold Stricker
And people who maybe they start this and they throw it away, you talk about something that's a real simple one to start out with.
Anne Carpenter
So if you think pie is too daunting, I recommend cobbler and cobbler crisp. All those where you have a fruit bottom, it's just in a 9 by 13. It's not in a fancy pie plate. You can do it in anything.
And then it has a topping on it.
And there are lots of different versions of toppings for fruit, for baked fruit things some people do oatmeal or brown sugar, all kinds of things like that. But my favorite topping of all, and the easiest one to make, it's just. You can do it blindfolded you can do it with any fruit you have.
It's a one, one, one. Everybody can remember it. It's one cup of butter, one cup of sugar, one egg, one cup of flour, a little bit of baking powder. Spread it on and it's.
Everybody says it's the most delicious cobbler they've ever had.
Arnold Stricker
There you go. And you put the goo in your nine by 12 or whatever. Or your nine by 12.
Anne Carpenter
Well, you have the fruit on the bottom mixed up with a little sugar, and then you put your topping on, and then you bake it for 45.
Arnold Stricker
Minutes at what, 375?
Anne Carpenter
Yeah, that's fine. And the topping spreads and some of those more complicated ones, they'll have you do a rolled biscuit topping topping. This just.
Yeah, this is just real simple.
Arnold Stricker
Mark's writing all this stuff down.
Mark Langston
I am.
Anne Carpenter
Mark. The cookbook is available at Kitchen conservatory for a year. 15 dol.
Arnold Stricker
He has one. He just didn't bring it today.
Mark Langston
I don't. Do I?
Arnold Stricker
Yeah.
Mark Langston
Oh. Oh, I do, actually. Yes, I do.
Arnold Stricker
Yeah.
Mark Langston
Okay.
Arnold Stricker
Okay. Is chocolate and bananas. I'm looking at the chocolate custard and banana cream pie bananas.
Do you want to use the bananas when they're really ripe, when they're a little green, when they're a little harder and a little softer? When do you want to use them?
Anne Carpenter
I think that's a matter of personal preference. Some people like their bananas firm, and some people like their bananas mushy. And I find they don't agree on that issue.
You either go one way or the other. I remember a grocery guy told me once that the bananas cause the single most source of complaints in the grocery store. Too green, too ripe.
People like their bananas just the way they like their bananas.
Arnold Stricker
Of course, if they get them green and they'll ripen up.
Anne Carpenter
Haven't you ever heard, you never buy green bananas if you think you're not going to make it.
Arnold Stricker
What kind of chocolate should be used?
Anne Carpenter
Delicious chocolate. Chocolate you want to eat chocolate you think tastes delicious.
Arnold Stricker
So versus baking chocolate or milk chocolate or dark chocolate or 70% or 60%.
Anne Carpenter
I like a dark bittersweet chocolate. But not everybody likes that. So you use the chocolate you like.
Arnold Stricker
Okay. Okay.
Mark Langston
Makes sense to me.
Arnold Stricker
It makes sense to me.
Mark Langston
Oh, yeah, this is wonderful.
Arnold Stricker
Is there a difference in using a. Like a pie tin versus using, like, a glass pie plate or a ceramic pie plate as far as baking thyme and how the crust develops?
Anne Carpenter
Usually pie is served in the dish it's baked in. So people like to use A dish that is pretty so they can take it to the table and show it off.
And the metal pie plates are not as pretty for showing off your pie. But in terms of baking, I do the ceramic because I think you get a crisper bottom crust. Nobody likes a soggy bottom. So the whole.
One of the tricks in making a good pie is not to have a soggy bottom. And some of the tricks on that are, A, make sure your oven's hot. Bake the pie at 375 degrees.
B, when the pie dough, when the pie goes into the oven, it's cold because cold dough plus hot oven equals flaky pastry. So you don't want your pie dough to just sit out on the countertop and warm up.
Because as the pie, as the dough warms up, it's then going to start to absorb the liquid filling and then that's going to make the bottom crust soggy. So you want to put in your. And you don't want to pour a hot filling into the pie dough.
So you put your filling into the pie dough, put the top crust on, run it in the oven as quickly as possible, and then that'll get you a better bottom crust.
Arnold Stricker
Couple things. Do you, halfway through, do you turn?
Anne Carpenter
I've never found that necessary.
Arnold Stricker
Okay. Okay.
Anne Carpenter
But ovens vary. Some ovens definitely have hot spots.
Arnold Stricker
How about cutting into the top?
Anne Carpenter
That's an old wives tale.
Arnold Stricker
Old wives tale. Interesting.
Anne Carpenter
No ness. No need for that.
Arnold Stricker
Don't need to put that little pie bird. Pie bird in there either.
Anne Carpenter
Boy, that's such a fraud.
Arnold Stricker
Let us know what you think about that, Anne. Wow, that's interesting.
Mark Langston
It is.
Anne Carpenter
There's no point to it.
Mark Langston
Who knew?
Arnold Stricker
Yeah, because he's like to release, but.
Anne Carpenter
It doesn't actually work because the bottom of the bird just gets. Gets clogged up with dough and there's no. The steam never goes through that to release it.
Arnold Stricker
Interesting.
Mark Langston
Steam's good.
Arnold Stricker
Steam is good.
Mark Langston
Yeah.
Arnold Stricker
Wow. Okay.
Mark Langston
Is there much in there about cobblers though? We used to make cobblers on camping trips. We'd take cast iron pots and we'd put a bunch of coals on the top of it and we would make peach cobblers.
And they would be the best things in the world.
Anne Carpenter
Sure. Because you're out camping, everything tastes delicious because you're starving.
Mark Langston
That's a good point. That's for sure.
Anne Carpenter
But I have one cobbler recipe in it in the chapter called Not Pie and it's the best cobbler recipe. And I promise you that once you take this cobbler recipe, you'll never go back to any other cobbler recipe.
Mark Langston
Oh, okay. I'm going to take a look at that.
Arnold Stricker
She's got apple brown Betty here, too. Breadcrumbs and butter, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, lemon, sugar, salt. Is that similar to a fruit goblin?
Anne Carpenter
Well, a brown Betty is an old fashioned thing.
And if you have some really yummy bread like brioche, and you grind that up and then you mix it with more butter and then you sprinkle that on top of your fruit, it can make a really nice crust.
Arnold Stricker
Brioche bread. The way to go. Brioche bun for a hamburger.
Anne Carpenter
Yeah. So brioche is the fattiest of all the bread. It's full of egg yolks and butter. That's what makes it so good.
So when Marie Antoinette said, let them eat cake, the word she used in French was brioche.
Arnold Stricker
Brioche, yeah. Let them eat pastry.
Mark Langston
Okay. I'm fine with that.
Arnold Stricker
Oh, my. So what's on the docket? You have another pie book? Pie two. You had me at pie two.
Anne Carpenter
I really think that I covered the basics of pie. You can substitute other fruits from the ones.
For example, this book doesn't have a recipe for strawberry rhubarb, but you can use the generic fruit pie filling and just substitute different fruits and make up strawberry rhubarb or an apricot or nectarine pie. You can always make plenty of variations along that.
I mean, I don't have a key lime in here, but if you do, if you make the lemon meringue with lime zest and lime juice instead, I'd call that a key lime pie. So I don't think we need book two. However, the folks at Reedy Pressed have told me they do want another book from me.
And what we're going to do is soup.
Mark Langston
Ooh, ooh.
Anne Carpenter
Chowder, bisque, gumbo, cream of soups.
Mark Langston
Yeah.
Anne Carpenter
Gazpacho, vichysoise. Yeah.
Arnold Stricker
Made some turkey noodle soup.
Anne Carpenter
Good.
Arnold Stricker
From the carcass the other day.
Mark Langston
Did you now had that for dinner last night. Wow.
Anne Carpenter
So I have techniques on that.
Arnold Stricker
Yeah.
Anne Carpenter
Yeah. And one of the best techniques you should do with your carcass when you make your turkey soup is you need to cut up the carcass.
Did you cut it up, Arnold?
Arnold Stricker
I was pretty. We had spatchcocked it and so it was pretty much destroyed.
Anne Carpenter
Well, no.
See, it's really what makes you a better bone broth, because that's what you're doing is you're making a Bone broth is you need to expose the marrow in the bone. So it's very important.
Arnold Stricker
Chop it up.
Anne Carpenter
That the backbone in particular gets. Gets cut up because then your stock is so much more flavorful.
Arnold Stricker
Yeah. And I had spatchcocked it, so the backbone was gone.
Anne Carpenter
Oh, the backbone is the best bone for making stock, truly.
Arnold Stricker
There we went.
Anne Carpenter
I have a different method of spatchcocking. I don't cut out the backbone. I leave the backbone in because then the bone supports the meat. It gives you. It doesn't fall apart.
Arnold Stricker
It keeps it up off the.
Anne Carpenter
Yeah. It's like. It gives you a rack that your meat is on. It's also very good if you're going to grill it is to leave the backbone on.
But what I do is I cut the rib cage from the wing to the thigh bone, and then I'm able to flatten it that way, and the backbone stays. So that's my. I have a YouTube video on how to. I call it leaping frog chicken because it looks like a leaping frog.
Arnold Stricker
I have to look at that.
Mark Langston
Let's go to her house.
Arnold Stricker
You know what scrapcocking is, right? You take the back out, and then you actually.
Anne Carpenter
But you're flattening it.
Arnold Stricker
You're taking.
Anne Carpenter
You're taking a round bird, and you're making it flat. And it comes from dispatching the cuck.
Mark Langston
Say, hey, I never knew.
Arnold Stricker
I didn't. That's why you have to listen to this show, folks.
Mark Langston
Who knew?
Arnold Stricker
How many new things have we learned today?
Mark Langston
Oh, I'm running out of notes or areas to put notes on. I know this has been really fun.
Arnold Stricker
This has been great. And I want you to come back when you get that soup book done.
Anne Carpenter
Certainly.
Mark Langston
And bring samples. You can't have her back without samples. We'll set up a little table over here.
Arnold Stricker
We don't have the kitchen set up to do.
Mark Langston
We'll figure it out. We'll find a place.
Arnold Stricker
This has been fun. It's a great book, folks. You had me at PI. It's by Ann Carpenter. You can get this at Reedy Press. This is a great book for the upcoming holidays. And.
And it will help you in making pies. Husbands. Maybe you want to get this for your wife or your daughter or yourself.
Mark Langston
Stocking stuffer.
Arnold Stricker
Yeah. Great. Stocking stuffer. It will roll up and fit in there. And you need to try some of these out.
And I'm encouraging everybody to do this because it's just not the ladies that should be making pies. There's a lot of a Lot of men in your class.
Anne Carpenter
So in the introduction, I tell the story of student of mine who was a retired corporate executive, and he decided that he was going to take on pie baking as his extracurricular activity in retirement. And he mastered the art of making pies. And he does what he calls comfort pie. Somebody's back from the hospital, somebody's bereaved.
He makes a pie and brings them a comfort pie. And at last count, when he told me he'd now done 80 of them.
Arnold Stricker
Wow, that's great.
Anne Carpenter
Much better than a bouquet of flowers is to get a comfort pie.
Mark Langston
And do you have a favorite pie?
Anne Carpenter
Cherry.
Mark Langston
Oh, that's right. I beg your pardon. I forgot.
Arnold Stricker
Cherry.
Mark Langston
Cherry pie. Which One of my favorites, too? And just. This is.
Arnold Stricker
And. And having pie for breakfast. I've done that.
Mark Langston
Do it all the time.
Arnold Stricker
I've done that.
Mark Langston
Yeah. If we have pie around our house, it is my go to breakfast. There's no question about it.
Arnold Stricker
Yeah.
Anne Carpenter
Eggs, fruit.
Mark Langston
It's got all the food groups in it, the important food groups. I'll tell you right now.
Arnold Stricker
And if you have the right vegetables in there.
Anne Carpenter
Squashed.
Arnold Stricker
Yeah, there you go.
Anne Carpenter
Nuts.
Arnold Stricker
Yeah.
Mark Langston
I'm looking forward to the soup book.
Arnold Stricker
Yeah, I am, too.
Mark Langston
Soup is good.
Arnold Stricker
Now, this kind of goes. Oh, I need to do our word of the. Because it relates to what we're talking about here. Our word of the day is Saturn 9. S A, T, U, R, N, I, N, E.
It means bitter or scornful, showing a brooding ill humor.
Anne Carpenter
Wait, wait, wait. That is the wrong word for after our talk about delicious pie. Why are you bringing us down?
Arnold Stricker
His saturnine attitude left me depressed.
Anne Carpenter
Pie is about making people happy. Pie is about comfort. Can you please come up with the opposite?
Arnold Stricker
Okay.
Anne Carpenter
Because this is the wrong word for us today.
Arnold Stricker
I've got one. If someone calls you fat because you've been eating some wonderful pie, just ignore them. You're bigger than that.
Mark Langston
Okay, okay.
Arnold Stricker
How was that one?
Anne Carpenter
Marginally better.
Mark Langston
Marginally. Okay, I like that one.
Arnold Stricker
That's a good one. Let's see here.
Mark Langston
That is funny.
Arnold Stricker
As a kid, I used to watch the wizard of Oz and wonder how someone could talk if they didn't have a brain. Then I got social media.
Mark Langston
Okay.
Arnold Stricker
Let'S see here. Ooh, there's a recipe for pastrami Reuben. Okay.
Every time I try to eat healthy, along comes Thanksgiving, Christmas, summer, Friday, or Wednesday, and it ruins it for me.
Anne Carpenter
Remember what I started off with. Your mental health is just as important as your physical health. Eat delicious food. You will be mentally healthy.
Arnold Stricker
There you go. There you are.
Mark Langston
I think that's. That's it.
Arnold Stricker
We need to close on those words. Mental health. For your mental health. Eat this pie.
Anne Carpenter
Yes.
Arnold Stricker
All right, man. Thanks for coming in today.
Anne Carpenter
It was my pleasure.
Arnold Stricker
Wow.
Mark Langston
Mark had a lot of fun.
Arnold Stricker
Gotta crank up that oven. Get your supplies, folks. Don't forget to go to kitchen conservatory and catch some of these classes.
Mark Langston
Make your house smell better.
Arnold Stricker
Yeah, that's exactly right. That's exactly right. Wow. Folks, that's all for this hour. We thank you for listening.
If you've enjoyed this episode and your salivating, salivatory or salivating glands are really going, you can listen to additional shows@stintune.com consider leaving a review on Apple Podcast, Podchaser, or your preferred podcast platform. Your feedback helps us reach more listeners and continue to grow.
I want to thank Bob Berthesel for our theme music, our guest, Ann Carpenter, and co host Mark Langston. We thank you for being a part of our community of curious mind. St. Louis in tune is a production of Motifs Media Group and the US Radio Network.
Remember to keep seeking, keep learning, walk worthy, and let your light shine. For St. Louis in Tune, I'm Arnold Stricker, SA.
Anne Carpenter
Author / Baker
Anne Carpenter loves to make and bake pies. She is known for the flakiest, tenderest pie crust. She has been teaching cooking classes for more than thirty years.
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