Comments on: Secret to Tender Pie Crusts: Vodka

By: Vidiot

Vidiot — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 02:50:06 +0000

this sounds very interesting indeed — I wish I could make decent piecrust (my hands are too hot, usually). I’ve wondered if Angostura bitters would be good in an apple pie.

By: Carlos

Carlos — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 00:29:16 +0000

I love cooks illustrated. Another example of a cool technique learned from cooks illustrated is for bbq-ing brisket on a charcoal grill:

Apparently consistent heat is important for brisket. Since bbq-ing typically takes many hours, you do need to refresh the charcoal. Unfortunately, lifting the lid to add more charcoal results in too much lost heat. To counter this, Cooks Illustrated recommends lighting a pile of charcoal (a more-or-less specific amount), and once that’s lit you add *unlit* charcoal to the pile. Over time, as the old charcoal burns out, the new charcoal lights up, keeping the overall temperature adequately constant. Science!

By: snoozebar

snoozebar — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 21:31:35 +0000

That pie crust is crazy amazing, isn’t it? I used it for my Thanksgiving pies last year, and I don’t think I’ll made it the old way ever again.

The guy who made the recipe went on the Cooks Illustrated forums to answer questions (there were lots), and he said any alcohol would work. They just used vodka because it was neutral-tasting.

You might have to adjust the amount of water depending on what alcohol you use, though.