Apple pie
Dessert pie made with apples
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
An apple pie is a pie in which the principal filling is apples. It is generally has shortcrust pastry both above and below the filling; the upper pastry may be solid or latticed (woven of crosswise strips). The bottom or pastry base may be baked separately (known as "blind-baking") to prevent it from getting soggy. Tarte Tatin is baked with the pastry on top, but this is served the opposite way round with the fruit exposed.
First recorded in the 14th century in England, apple pie recipes are now a standard part of cuisines in many countries where apples grow. Apple pie is a significant dessert in many countries, including the United Kingdom, Ireland, Sweden, Norway, Australia, Germany, New Zealand, and the United States.[3] American apple pies are known to be considerably sweeter than their European cousins versions.[4]
Ingredients
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The fruit in an apple pie can be made with many different sorts of apples. The more popular cooking apples include Braeburn, Gala, Cortland, Bramley, Empire, Northern Spy, Granny Smith, and McIntosh.[5] The fruit for the pie can be fresh, canned, or reconstituted from dried apples in the case of dried apple pie. Dried or preserved apples were originally substituted only at times when fresh fruit was unavailable. The basic ingredients of the filling are sugar, and an acidic ingredient like lemon juice. A thickener like eggs or corn starch may be added, while butter is added in the US. Spices may be added like cinnamon or nutmeg.[2][6][7] Lemon juice which is used to prevent oxidation of the apples when macerating the filling. Many older recipes call for honey in place of the then-expensive sugar.[8]
Most apple pies use shortcrust pastry,[9][10][7] however, the tarte Tatin is traditionally made with puff pastry,[11][12] while the Greek milopita bougatsa uses filo pastry.[13]
Serving
In the UK, custard is the traditional serving with apple pie,[14][15] although cream, either whipped or poured, is another popular topping.[6]
Apple pie in the US is often served à la mode, that is, topped with ice cream.[16]
In another serving style, a piece of sharp cheddar cheese is placed on top of or alongside a slice of the finished pie.[17][18][19] Apple pie with cheddar is popular in the American Midwest and New England, particularly in Vermont, where it is considered the state dish.[20] In the north of England, Cheddar or Wensleydale cheese is often used.[21][22]
Nutrition
| Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Energy | 992 kJ (237 kcal) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
34.0 g | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sugars | 15.65 g | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dietary fibre | 1.6 g | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
11.0 g | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1.9 g | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other constituents | Quantity | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Water | 52.2 g | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| †Percentages estimated using US recommendations for adults,[23] except for potassium, which is estimated based on expert recommendation from the National Academies.[24] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
A commercially prepared apple pie in the US is 52% water, 34% carbohydrates, 2% protein, and 11% fat (table). A 100 g (3.5 oz) serving supplies 992 kilojoules (237 kilocalories) of food energy and 13% of the US recommended Daily Value of sodium, with no other micronutrients in significant amounts (table).
Pies around the world
England
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The 14th century recipe collection the Forme of Cury gives a recipe including good apples, good spices, figs, raisins and pears in a cofyn, a casing of pastry. Saffron colours the filling.[25]
Lattice pastry styles were found from the 17th century alongside the more traditional dome shaped pie crust.[26] Traditionally, apples were stewed before the pie was baked,[27] but modern English versions incorporate thick layers of sweetened slices of, usually, Bramley apple; layered into a dome shape to allow for downward shrinkage, and thus avoid a saggy middle; then topped with butter or lard shortcrust pastry; and baked until the apple filling is cooked.[9] In Yorkshire, they serve Wilfa apple cake on St Wilfa's day, and although called a cake it is made with shortcrust pastry and contains Wensleydale cheese.[28]
In English-speaking countries, apple pie, often considered a comfort food, is a popular dessert, eaten hot or cold, on its own or with cream, custard or ice cream. Apple pies are often sold in supermarkets and convenience stores as mini versions in multipacks.[29]
France
France has several types of apple pies. Tarte aux pommes and tarte Tatin are both made with puff pastry.[30] The tarte Tatin is a tart in which the apples are caramelized in butter and sugar before the tart is baked. The tarte is then served with the pastry served on the bottom exposing the caramelised apple.[31] Other variants include the Normandy tart.[32]
Germany
In Germany, the word "kuchen" encompasses desserts that English speakers may call "pie", with apple pie coming under Apfelkuchen.[33] The traditional pastry based apple pie is known as Gedeckter apfelkuchen and is fully encased in pastry with the apples cooked in the oven.[7]
Netherlands
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Recipes for Dutch apple pie go back to the Middle Ages. An early Dutch language cookbook from 1514, Een notabel boecxken van cokeryen ("A notable little cookery book"), letterpress printed in Brussels by Thomas van der Noot, who may also have been the author,[34] documents a recipe for Appeltaerten (modern Dutch Appeltaarten 'apple pies'). This early recipe was simple, requiring only shortcrust pastry, slices of especially soft apples with their skin and seeds removed, and den selven deeghe daer die taerte af ghemaect es (more of the same dough) on top. It was then baked in a typical Dutch oven. Once baked, the top crust (except at the edges) would be cut out from the middle, after which the apple slices were potentially put through a sieve before the pie was stirred with a wooden spoon. At this point the book recommends adding several spices to the pie, namely: cardamom, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, mace and powdered sugar. Finally, after mixing the ingredients into the pie with cream, it is once again put into the oven to dry.[35]
Traditional Dutch apple pie comes in two varieties, a crumb or streusel-top (appelkruimeltaart) and a lattice-top (appeltaart) style pie. Both recipes are distinct in that they typically call for flavourings of cinnamon and lemon juice to be added and differ in texture, not taste.[36][37] Dutch apple pies may include ingredients such as full-cream butter, raisins and almond paste, in addition to ingredients such as apples and sugar, which they have in common with other recipes.[38] Both modern types have a shortcrust pastry on the bottom and around the edges. The apples are usually a crisp and mildly tart variety such as Goudreinet or Elstar. It can be eaten warm or cold, sometimes with a dash of whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.[37][39]
Poland
In Poland, szarlotka is regarded as apple pie. It has a shortcrust base, a filling of spiced shredded apple, and is either topped with more shortcrust pastry or a crumble mixture.[40] There is a similar dish called jabłecznik, but this is considered a cake as it is not made with shortcrust pastry.
Sweden
The Swedish style apple pie, äppelpaj is predominantly a variety of apple crumble, rather than a traditional pastry pie. Often, breadcrumbs are used (wholly or partially) instead of flour, and sometimes rolled oats. It is usually flavoured with cinnamon and served with vanilla custard or ice cream.[41]
America
Apple pie was brought to the colonies by the English, the Dutch, and the Swedes during the 17th and 18th centuries.[42] Two recipes for apple pie appear in America's first cookbook, American Cookery by Amelia Simmons, which was published in 1796.[43]
The apple pie had to wait for the planting of European varieties, brought across the Atlantic, to become fruit-bearing apple trees, to be selected for their cooking qualities as there were no native apples except crabapples, which yield very small and sour fruit.[44] In the meantime, the colonists were more likely to make their pies, or "pasties", from meat, rather than fruit; and the main use for apples, once they were available, was in cider. However, there are American apple pie recipes, both manuscript and printed, from the 18th century, and it has since become a very popular dessert.[3] Apple varieties are usually propagated by grafting, as clones, but in the New World, planting from seeds was more popular, which quickly led to the development of hundreds of new native varieties.[45]
Apple pie was a common food in 18th-century Delaware. As noted by the New Sweden historian Dr. Israel Acrelius in a letter: "Apple pie is used throughout the whole year, and when fresh Apples are no longer to be had, dried ones are used. It is the evening meal of children."[46]
The mock apple pie, made from crackers, was probably invented for use aboard ships, as it was known to the British Royal Navy as early as 1812.[47] The earliest known published recipes for mock apple pie date from the antebellum period of the 1850s.[48][49] In the 1930s, and for many years afterwards, Ritz Crackers promoted a recipe for mock apple pie using its product, along with sugar and various spices.[50]
In the US, "Dutch apple pie" refers specifically to crumb-top variety known as appelkruimeltaart in the Netherlands.[37] Dried apple pie is prominent in the cuisine of the Pennsylvania Dutch, where it is known as schnitz pie.
In American culture
Apple pie was one of the dishes that Rhode Island army officers ate for their Fourth of July celebrations during the Siege of Petersburg.[51]
Although originating in England and eaten in Europe since long before the European colonisation of the Americas, apple pie as used in the phrase "as American as apple pie" describes something as being "typically American".[52][53] In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, apple pie became a symbol of American prosperity and national pride. A newspaper article published in 1902 declared that "No pie-eating people can be permanently vanquished."[54] The dish was also commemorated in the phrase "for Mom and apple pie"—supposedly the stock answer of American soldiers in World War II, whenever journalists asked why they were going to war. Jack Holden and Frances Kay sang in their patriotic 1950 song "The Fiery Bear", creating contrast between this symbol of U.S. culture and the Russian bear of the Soviet Union:
- We love our baseball and apple pie
- We love our county fair
- We'll keep Old Glory waving high
- There's no place here for a bear
Advertisers exploited the patriotic connection in the 1970s with the commercial jingle "baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet".
One out of five Americans surveyed (19%) prefer apple pie over all others, followed by pumpkin (13%) and pecan (12%).[55]
The unincorporated community of Pie Town, New Mexico, is named after apple pie.[56]
See also
- Apple strudel (German Apfelstrudel), a large Austrian pastry made with apples, sugar and spices; similar to pie in that the filling is encased by the pastry, but it is rectangular rather than round and cut like coffee cake or stollen rather than like pie
- Apple turnover, similar to strudel but much smaller and triangular in shape, with a higher proportion of pastry to filling
- Apple cake
- Apple cobbler
- Applesauce cake
- List of apple dishes
- List of pies, tarts and flans