All Cakes Considered - Melissa Gray [56]
8. Roll out the third and fourth discs in the same manner, kneading the excess dough into a disc and refrigerating.
Here’s the thing that is so cool about being from a fairly homogeneous hometown and working at NPR: You really learn a lot about people from other regions, other traditions, and other countries, and occasionally they get to learn from you. For a brief moment you realize, “Hey, I’m not as boring and white bread as I thought!”
Back in March of 2006, I came across a series of reports in the Atlanta Journal Constitution chronicling the plight of Willie Watts, a sixty-something home baker who supplemented her monthly income by making Fried Pies and selling them at a barbecue place in Lithonia, Georgia. Mr. Watts had health problems, and what the missus earned paid for his medications, plus making Fried Pies was just something she liked to do. Well, the AJC reported her story, which had an unfortunate consequence: The Georgia Department of Agriculture, which regulates food prep and sales, shut her down because she was working from an unregulated kitchen. Fortunately, she was able to work out of the barbecue’s kitchen in Lithonia, and her plight caught the eyes of a number of state representatives, who attempted to pass an exemption law that would allow her to return to her home kitchen. I pitched this story at ATC’s morning meeting, and Melissa Block interviewed Mrs. Watts about her Fried Pie operation that afternoon.
Nobody in the morning meeting had ever had a Fried Pie. To me, it was like saying you’d never written with a number-2 pencil. Fried Pies are small, crescent-shaped doughy pods filled with apples, cherries, sweet potatoes, lemon, or chocolate. They’re generally cooked in melted shortening, then powdered with sugar or glazed with icing. We used to get them at local fairs or the Tastee-Freez in Virginia when I was a kid. They were more readily available when I moved to Georgia. Say “Fried Pie” to my cake-hating Georgia husband, and he’ll offer to clean the bathrooms, prune the red tips hedges out front, vacuum the rugs, reorganize the attic, anything so I can fry some up. And he’ll eat about twelve in one sitting.
After Melissa B. talked with Willie W., the whole ATC staff was dying of culinary curiosity. I went online to see if there was a way to order Fried Pies and have them delivered, only to discover yet again what a lame town DC is for Southern food. Then I decided to figure it out on my own, based on Mrs. Watts’s description of her pie-making process.
Well, my Fried Pies (pictured on page 132) are still evolving and getting better all the time. When a few of our producers go to Baghdad, I bake whatever they want before they go, and then repeat it when they get back eight weeks later. Several of them have had Fried Pies coming and going. And no matter how many incredible cakes I bring in week after week, the inevitable question always comes up: “Hey! When are we getting Fried Pies again?”
Sadly, attempts by the Georgia legislature to get Mrs. Watts that exemption didn’t work that session; it was among several last-minute changes that didn’t get finalized as the assembly wound down. Last I heard, she was still working out of the barbecue place in Lithonia.
Fried Pies are best served immediately. They get greasy just hanging around too long. I’ve tried coating them in butter and baking them, which keeps the crust flakey. These are Faux Fried Pies, and only I know the difference.
I use Dorie Greenspan’s rugelach dough recipe for the dough, but any regular pie dough recipe works fine, so long as it’s fairly flexible and forgiving.
This should be enough to make about 18 Fried Pies.
9. Roll out the discs of dough scraps, cut out the pastry circles, and combine the scraps. Again, knead together the scraps, but this time continue rolling out the dough and cutting circles until there’s just a finger length of dough left. Set that little piece aside to test the oil when you’re ready to fry.
10.