The History Quilter: Caramel Custard with Graham Cracker Crust Pie

Sunday, September 8, 2013

So Much Pie, So Little Time: Pie Contest Wrap Up

My first pie contest was a blast!

If you have been reading this blog for while you might remember that I entered in the 4th Annual Good Food Pie Contest last year (2012) but wasn't able to bring my finished pies to the contest as my older son was injured in a soccer game that morning. My presence was needed in the ER, not at LACMA.

Fast forward 365 days and I am still enjoying the high from yesterday's contest. Yesterday was the 5th Annual Good Food Pie Contest which was held at LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art).

LACMA

If you are not familiar with Good Food, it is a Santa Monica, CA based local food show hosted by Evan Kleiman. Visit the Good Food blog to take a listen ~ it's so good! What a treat it was yesterday to see Evan in person and observe what a gracious host she is, even in the 90 degree Los Angeles heat.

A few practice pies:

Blueberry Practice Pie

Savory Practice Pie

Caramel Custard Practice Pie

I entered in two different categories this year: Custard and Savory.

For the custard category I made a Caramel Custard Pie with Graham Cracker Crust which I created last year. We were instructed to make two pies per category; one for the judges and one to give out slices to the public.

Caramel Custard Pie with Graham Cracker Crust

For the savory category I created a meat and potato pie infused with Indian spices with a buttermilk pastry crust. The crust recipe came from Jaye of Artquiltmaker.com - thanks Jaye! The name for the pie originated with my guinea pig whom said this pie was "the bomb". Love it. :)

Suz's Bombay Pie

If you are interested in the recipes for either of my pies, comment below or email me. I would be happy to share with you.

At approximately 12:15 pm I loaded up the car with my four pies, butterflies in my stomach and my exact plan of how I would get to Los Angeles in 45 minutes. The cutoff time for pie dropoff was 1pm. Yikes!

Just after I've dropped off my pies I'm thinking, "What Am I Doing Here?"

I walked around viewing the other pies before the public was allowed in to taste. Loved the shapes and creativity of the names of pies.

Here's my custard pie!

My poor pie was having a hard time in the heat.

Attention Quilters - look at this awesome pie made by Mary : It is a Blueberry Peach Matisse Pie which was part of the LACMA inspired category (pie was to somehow convey any artwork inside LACMA). Quilters, this is an Applique pie - she cut out the shapes and then laminated them to the top of the pastry crust! It was a gorgeous, gorgeous pie. I was truly bummed when she did not win or place in this category.

Mary's Blueberry Peach Matisse Pie

Here is Mary and I - neither one of us knew this was being taken. I had a blast standing next to Mary in the hot sun (vampire me stood back in the shade most of the time) while chatting about pie and meeting her adorable niece. What do you think Mary - next year?

Anxiously waiting for the public to be allowed into the area to serve our pies.

Of course I was going to try my fellow baker's pies. So good!

Serving the public was awesome.

I had so much fun - I could of cared less that I didn't win. I met so many nice people, had a wonderful time making people happy with my pies and was able to see some of the Los Angeles area food luminaries that I admire.

Almost every baker wore an apron to the pie contest as it has become a tradition. Do any of you quilters recognize mine?

Happy Baking Everyone!

Susan

Monday, September 10, 2012

It's All About The Pie

I've mentioned here and on the podcast that I've been practicing for the KCRW 4th Annual Good Food Pie Contest for the last couple of months. I've been listening to KCRW's Good Food for years now on my local public radio station and for the previous three summers have enjoyed listening to Even Kleiman (the host) talk about pie and the different locations the contest would be held. While driving back from Northern California this past July while listening to Evan talk about another version of deliciousness known as pie, I decided to enter. Crazy idea as I've barely made pies and didn't grow up with a mother whom I can recall ever made a pie. But hey, why not?

For the last two months I've enjoyed making various kinds of custard/cream pies, learned that I that I prefer making a graham cracker crust to a pastry crust and made a lot of people smile with my creations. I've made Key Lime Pie, Chocolate Cream Pie, Buttermilk Pie (dud) and my own creation - Caramel Custard with Graham Cracker Crust. This past Saturday morning I began my pie prep, baked the crusts (two pies were required - one for the judges and one for the public), made the custard and had them in the refrigerator cooling by 8am.

So here was my entry - Caramel Custard with Graham Cracker Crust.

Caramel Custard with Graham Cracker Crust

And another...

Caramel Custard with Graham Cracker Crust...with a hint of chocolate ganache

But guess what? I did not make it to the contest. A phone call at about 10am informed me that my oldest son had hurt his right knee during a soccer game and needed medical attention. So at approximately 12:30 when I was supposed to be at the LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art), I was here:

with him:

Being silly in the ER

Yes, that's my 16 year old having fun with the "Call Me Maybe" song (I'll confess - he's got me hooked on it too.) When the call came through my motherly instinct kicked in immediately and I knew I would not be attending the contest. It all ended well though - nothing broken and no serious damage to his knee, the ER visit was super fast and I was able to share my pie with wonderful neighbors that evening at a BBQ. Nothing like making more people smile.

Now I've got approximately 362 days to practice for the 5th Annual KCRW Good Food Pie Contest! Maybe I'll venture into some of the other categories: fruit, nut and savory.

Happy Monday everyone ~ Hope you have a great day.
Susan