I have to say that I’ve never understood America being awash in cupcakes for the past few years. How are cupcakes better than real, you know, cake? If the theory of superiority is that you can eat a cupcake without resorting to fork and plate, I think that has been effectively buggered by the ones you get in shops that are the size of Delaware.
Clearly I’m in the minority because every city seems to be infested by cupcake shops, and they appear to be thriving. I guess they’re selling enough product at $4 a pop to pay the rent.
At any rate, I was drawn to NPR’s cookery editor’s story proclaiming that pies will replace cupcakes as the trend of the year.
I came late to pies, since my mother’s idea of them was to throw a frozen Safeway apple pie into a 400 degree oven and I grew up wondering how people could possibly get excited about something that tasted so disgusting. (And, believe me, it took a lot for me to pass up any kind of dessert.)
Then my BFF Leilah introduced me to French Apple Pie, homemade, and the scales fell from my eyes. Also from my tongue. You can have crust that doesn’t have the flavor and consistency of cardboard; and there can be filling that’s recognizable as having been something organic.
And it turns out that chicken pot pies can also be both tasty and satisfying. It’s all in the crust. And the chicken. And the sauce.
In England I was introduced to other types of pie—handheld mince pies at holiday parties, shepherd pies and cottage pies at pubs; even steak and kidney pies. Tuck into one of those savory pies with a pint of bitter and the world suddenly looks like a better place.
Except for mutton. Got a slice of mutton pie at the Harrods Food Hall once and just about gagged.
Well, Doon (the NPR correspondent) admits that she’s been wrong about cupcakes fading into the sunset, but it would be nice to see more pies about the place. Maybe at some of those Harrods-like food halls she’s predicting. I could really get behind those.
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