Pie. Nobody can argue, everyone enjoys pie of some flavor, sweet or savory. Yes, we know, at first glance there’s very little in common between pie and loudspeakers but if you look a bit deeper there are similarities in their essence – bear with us here.
Years ago, my family was visiting my wife’s grandmother in Vancouver, BC. This lady was born of hardy Nova Scotian stock, was ninety years old, had lived a full life, and had prepared a pie for us. I can’t remember what flavor but I would guess apple being that she had an apple tree in her backyard. We ate the pie slowly and took pleasure with every bite. After I ate the last bit and scraped my plate clean I asked my wife’s grandmother, “How do you do it? How do you make this crust?” I think we can all agree that pie filling is necessary but it’s the pie’s crust that makes or breaks the pie. She responded, “I don’t know.” She was a lady of few words.
I thought for three days about the pie and it’s crust. The ingredients are simple; flour, water, lard and pinch of salt, but the results vary dramatically and a great crust is elusive. The answer was actually clear: she’d been perfecting the pie’s crust for eighty years of her long life. Working, honing, refining—the science of making great pie crust.
