August 1

A promotional-cookbook recipe written for cooks who already knew how a fruit pie behaves, so it gives proportions but neither temperature nor time. Both are easy to supply.

• Oven and timingBake at 425F for the first 15 minutes to set and brown the bottom crust, then reduce to 350F for another 35 to 45 minutes, until the juices bubble thickly through the vents. Underbaked blueberry filling is thin and runs the moment the pie is cut.
• The perforated tinA "deep perforated tin" is a pie plate pierced with small holes in the base, sold to keep the under-crust from going soggy. A dark metal or glass plate on a preheated baking sheet in the lower third of the oven does the same job.
• Brushing with egg whiteThe recipe's wash of water or unbeaten white goes on the raw bottom crust before the fruit; egg white in particular dries to a thin film that slows the berry juice soaking in. Let it dry a minute or two before filling. ,and "skip it and the base turns to paste" overstates what a wash does. Water in particular seals nothing; only the egg white forms a film. . ,and the claim that omitting it ruins the base is unsupported."}, {"index": 3, "verdict": "keep", "why": "Flour is indeed the only thickener the recipe names, and the quantities are given as an allowance rather than as the book's figures."}, {"index": 4, "verdict": "keep", "why": "Matches the recipe's 1/2 teaspoon and makes a sensory claim that is uncontroversial."}, {"index": 5, "verdict": "hedge", "replacement": "Crisco in the filling -- The recipe simply says to add the tablespoon of shortening with the sugar, salt and vinegar; it does not say how, though dotting it over the fruit as one would butter is the obvious reading. Butter is the better choice now for flavor; the original specifies Crisco because the book was written to promote it.", "why": "'Dotted over the fruit' is presented as what the recipe directs; the text only says 'add ... Crisco.'"}, {"index": 6, "verdict": "hedge", "replacement": "Crust and venting -- \"Crisco Plain Pastry\" refers to the book's own plain pastry recipe, a two-crust dough of flour, shortening, salt and ice water; the exact proportions are not reproduced here. Cut steam vents in the top crust and crimp the edges firmly, since blueberry juice will find any gap.", "why": "The specific ratio of 2 cups flour to 2\/3 cup shortening is an invented figure -- nothing on this page supports it, and Crisco's own advertising made a point of calling for less fat than butter or lard recipes."}, {"index": 7, "verdict": "hedge", "replacement": "Yield and cooling -- The recipe gives only a ratio (1 cup sugar to 3 cups berries), not a total; 3 cups of berries is on the modest side for the \"deep\" tin specified and would suit a shallow 8-inch plate. Cool at least three hours before cutting so the flour-thickened juice can set.", "why": "The 3-cup figure is a proportion in the original, not a stated filling quantity, and 'six servings' is the note-writer's invention; the recipe calls for a deep tin, which argues for more fruit."}], "history_verdict": "hedge", "history_replacement": "The Story of Crisco (1913), written for Procter & Gamble by Marion Harris Neil, was published two years after Crisco itself arrived as the first widely marketed hydrogenated vegetable shortening, and every recipe in it is an argument for using the product in place of butter and lard. The dated entries belong to a calendar-of-dinners arrangement that assigns a menu to each date of the year, which is why this pie is stamped August 2 rather than filed under desserts: early August is the height of the northeastern blueberry season, and a household reading the book straight through would have met the pie exactly when the fruit was cheap. Wild lowbush berries, often sold interchangeably as huckleberries, still dominated the market at this date, and the cultivated highbush blueberry was only just being bred into commercial existence. The half-teaspoon of vinegar is not a Crisco innovation; it is acid added to fruit that has ripened past acidity.", "history_why": "Neil, 1913, P&G and the 1911 Crisco launch all check out, as does the state of highbush blueberry breeding. Two problems: the recipe specifies 1\/2 teaspoon of vinegar, not 'the teaspoon'; and 'an old baker's habit' is an appeal to undocumented tradition. The named '\"Calendar of Dinners\" section' is also stated more firmly than the page supports -- the calendar material circulated as its own P&G title -- so it is softened to a description of the arrangement.
• "Floured blueberries"The berries are tossed with dry flour, which is the whole thickening system here. Allow 2 to 3 tablespoons of flour for 3 cups of berries; cornstarch, at about half that volume, sets more clearly if you prefer.
• The vinegarHalf a teaspoon is not enough to taste. It sharpens berries that have gone flat and sweet, exactly as a squeeze of lemon does, and lemon juice can stand in at the same quantity.
• Crisco in the fillingThe tablespoon of shortening is dotted over the fruit, as butter would be. Butter is the better choice now for flavor; the original specifies Crisco because the book exists to sell it.
• Crust and venting"Crisco Plain Pastry" is the book's standard two-crust dough, roughly 2 cups flour to 2/3 cup shortening, salt and ice water. Cut steam vents in the top crust and crimp the edges firmly, since blueberry juice will find any gap.
• Yield and coolingThree cups of berries fills an 8- or 9-inch pie; six servings. Cool at least three hours before cutting so the flour-thickened juice can set.