Friday, October 28, 2005

Raisin Pie

There are certain kinds of things, edible things, that don't find their way between the two crusts of a pie. Like oranges, or bananas, or grapes. I have to assume that pies made from these things have been attempted with poor results. I'd heard of raisin pie before, which is sort of like a grape pie, but I'd never actually seen one. Recently I discovered such a thing as Raisin Cream Pie, which sounded way better. And worth trying.

I found a recipe for Sour Cream Raisin Pie on epicurious.com that sounded harmless enough. The pie is basically a egg/sour cream/spice/raisin filling in a pastry crust, topped with meringue. I followed the recipe pretty closely. It called for soaking the raisins for at least eight hours. I soaked mine for close to 48 and they ended up fat and smooth and light brown in color. Not like raisins (or grapes) at all. I accidentally omitted the vanilla and added too much sugar, nothing disastrous though.

The pie came out of the oven looking beautiful. Meringue always looks awesome straight from the oven. After sitting for a while beading covered they pie. But unlike with lemon meringue pie, this did not bring me close to tears. It looked so pretty, like a scattering of golden beads across the top. Mark thought it was intentional.

Once the pie reached room temp I had a piece. It was good, very sweet, but good. It has a very old fashioned taste about it. I think if I made it again I would soak the raisins in rum, to add something to the flavor. I do quite think it is worth making again.