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Apple Pie
Quarter and pare eight apples. Cut the quarters in two and fill a deep pie plate. If the apples are quite sour use two-thirds of a cup of granulated sugar; if only moderately so, half a cup. One teaspoon of cinnamon. Roll the under crust very thin. The upper crust should be punctured for the escape of the steam.
After moistening the under crust around the edges fold the upper crust under it and press them together to keep in the juice. Bake in a moderate oven from half to three-quarters of an hour.
A plain nineteenth-century apple pie: no butter, no thickener, no lemon, and very little sugar by modern standards. The instructions assume you already know how to make and handle pastry.
- Moderate ovenRead this as roughly 350–375°F. Many cooks now start a fruit pie hotter, around 425°F for the first 15 minutes, to set and brown the bottom crust before dropping to 350°F; if you do that, check the pie early, as the recipe's 30–45 minutes assumes a single steady moderate heat.
- Pie plate sizeThe recipe says only "deep", and period plates varied; something in the region of 9 inches and deeper than a shallow modern tin is a reasonable choice. Eight apples cut into eighths will heap well above the rim of a shallow 9-inch plate — expect to mound them and accept some settling.
- ApplesThe recipe hinges on tart, firm fruit that holds its shape: Granny Smith, Bramley, Northern Spy, Rhode Island Greening. Sweet modern eating apples such as Gala or Red Delicious will collapse into sauce and taste flat at this sugar level.
- SugarTwo-thirds of a cup for eight apples is restrained. Taste a raw slice and judge; if the fruit is genuinely sour you may want slightly more, but the point of the recipe is apple flavour rather than sweetness.
- No thickenerThere is no flour or cornstarch here, so the juice will run. If you want a sliceable pie rather than a soupy one, a tablespoon of flour or two teaspoons of cornstarch tossed with the apples is the usual fix — and cool the pie at least two hours before cutting.
- Sealing the edgeMoisten the lower crust's rim, fold the upper crust under it and press. Practice varies today, with some recipes folding the top under the bottom and others the reverse; either way, crimp firmly and the seal will hold the juice.
- Rolling thin"Very thin" for the bottom crust means about 1/8 inch or a little less. Chilling the rolled shell before filling keeps the fat solid and helps towards a crisp base.
- YieldOne deep double-crust pie, six to eight servings.
No pastry recipe is given, and no butter, nutmeg or lemon is mentioned. The sugar — half a cup, or two-thirds if the fruit is quite sour — is very little by modern standards. Instructions that turn on whether fruit is "quite sour" or "only moderately so" assume a cook who knows the crop she has.