Plum Good Pie, The Old Farmer’s Almanac Colonial Cookbook

What is it about a flaky crust filled with sweet and tart luscious fruit served warm with a scoop of ice cream or whipped cream or even with a splash of half & half as my Dad preferred? It is ‘hygge’, the Danish philosophy of creating a mood of cozy, in a bowl. It is simplicity. It is homey. It is a vessel of love. I wax poetic.

My Mom, affectionately called Bean was quite the pie maker/baker. I do not exaggerate when I say she probably made a pie every week of my life growing up. My father loved fruit pie; apple, pear, strawberry-rhubarb, lemon meringue, mincemeat, cherry, peach, and at the age of two he started on the path of a blueberry pie thief. As the story goes his grandmother Kindred, another wonderful pie baker, put a fresh blueberry pie on the windowsill to cool. My father absconded with it and hid under the kitchen table which had a long cloth over it. He ate nearly the whole pie with a big wooden spoon and when they found him there was no hiding the evidence as he was blue from head to toe. His life of pie thievery had begun. He was never remorseful. Though I’m sure he was quite ill after eating nearly a whole blueberry pie.

Beans pie legacy was not limited to fruit pies however; my favorite was custard or coconut custard, my brothers were partial to pumpkin (she had to make multiples at holidays because each brother could eat a whole one), her peanut butter pie was to die for, chocolate cream pie, pecan pie, and the list goes on. Her crust was flaky, her bottom crust never soggy, and she nearly always signed her pies with her signature...a heart shaped cutout of extra crust or a simple free form heart cut into the pie with a knife.

Bean loved cookbooks, trying new recipes, reading them like novels, and amassed quite a collection which truly, along with her love of cooking and making people feel welcomed and cared for, was her legacy. Here I share memories of my beloved Mom and her cookbooks, one at a time. I choose a recipe to cook and then share the information of the book and the results of the dish on this blog.

The Old Farmer’s Almanac Colonial Cookbook, a small paper bound book was published by Yankee, Inc., Dublin, New Hampshire, in 1976. This was a first edition and the editor was Clarissa M. Silitch. This cookbook took original and traditional colonial recipes and made them available in modernized form for todays kitchen and ingredients. As they explain in the introduction the “colonial housewife cooked and roasted over an open fire, and baked in reflecting ovens set on the hob or brick ovens built into the fireplace...the mistress of the house kept the home fires burning.”

The book has chapters on; soups & chowders; breads & breakfasts; vegetables; meats, poultry & game; fish & seafood; desserts; and miscellaneous. Seven chapters of authentic colonial food recipes shared from the pages of the Farmers Almanac which was first published in 1792. Filled with woodblock prints of colonial scenes and ink drawings of vegetables, as well as tidbits of historical information and helpful hints. This little book is surprisingly full of inspiration. Many of the recipes are ones I grew up on, quintessential New England fare like; corn chowder, fried corn meal mush, brown bread, Boston baked beans, pot roast, Quahog clam fritters and old fashioned strawberry preserves. My comfort food.

Moms pie crust dough and her French rolling pin.

So as I leafed through the book looking for a recipe to try I came across deep dish Plum pie And since I had a fruit bowl full of fresh plums well the choice was made. I got out Moms pie crust recipe and first made the dough for the top crust. Then as it was chilling I set upon preparing the filling.

Cut up plums and place in pie plate, no bottom crust.

In the above picture I show my Moms French rolling pin which I use now. It is light and perfectly balanced, but truth be told it is very special because it holds a lot of love. Not just my Moms love which was legendary but the love of family and many, many friends. You see, after my Mom passed away quite unexpectedly we held a celebration of life gathering to honor her memory. It was held at night on top of a Mesa within a round valley in the CA high desert. A friend who I had asked to lead the gathering asked if I had something of my mother’s that could be passed around the circle as a sort of talking stick. The only thing I could think of was her rolling pin. So that evening as all gathered and sat around the medicine wheel that I built, under a sky lit with stars, one by one the rolling pin was passed. Stories and memories were told, laughter and love shared and many a tear fell on the desert floor that evening. She touched so many people. And apparently her dinner invitations were coveted! Every time I use the rolling pin I am reminded of her and friends and so many stories.

Deep Dish Plum Pie

4 cups plums, diced. 1/4 tsp salt
1 cup sugar. 1 tbsp butter
1/4 cup flour. Pastry of your choice

Cut up the washed and pitted plums. Combine sugar, flour and salt and sprinkle over plums. Dot with nobs of butter. Roll out your pastry to 1/8” thickness. Moisten rim of pie plate and place pastry over the top. Seal edges, crimp and prick the top with a fork. Bake in a hot oven 400 degrees for 30-35 minutes.

My notes; I would cut down the sugar next time depending upon the sweetness of the fruit. A half cup to 3/4 would be sweet enough for me. I served the pie with non dairy vanilla coconut milk ice cream, so good! Whipped cream would be good too. This whips up fast and could be made with other fruit. Put a pan under the pie plate in the oven to catch drippings.

Moms (much used) pastry recipe, depending upon what you are filling it with, uses either margarine or butter. Also the water should be ice cold. I use butter for making crust for say a chicken pot pie or more delicate pie fillings. The trick to any dough is not over handling it which makes it tough.