The Different Types of Pies

We've found that lots of cooking and culinary books have interesting tidbits of info, not just recipes. One such book is "The Fannie Farmer Baking Book," written by Marion Cunningham. It has a very nice, straightforward section explaining the different types of pies you can bake. Here is the excerpt from that book:

Types of Pies

Fruit Pies

Most fruits can be baked into pies, some with more success than others. Berries, apples, apricots, cherries, pears, peaches, plums, even bananas, all make wonderful pie fillings. So do both green and ripe tomatoes - nearly forgotten pie ingredients.

As a general rule, fresh fruit tastes better than canned; just add enough sugar for sweetness and a little lemon juice for acid to balance the natural flavor. There is a constant variation in the sweetness and sourness of fruit, so you must learn to taste critically, and correct.

You’ll find specific proportions with the recipes, but use your judgment; if you have very fresh fruit just off the tree, don’t overwhelm its fresh flavor with spice. After you’ve tossed the fruit and some seasonings together, taste and adjust.

I've also included some fillings using canned or dried fruit, lightly spiced and sometimes enlivened with a little butter, vanilla, rum, or bourbon. The ingredients are readily available on your kitchen shelf all year round, hence the term "shelf pies." So you'll be able to satisfy your craving for blueberry pie in December, for instance, or a peach pie while you're off in a hunting camp where fresh supplies are not available.

There are some exotic or tropical fruits like papaya, kiwi, and mango that are better left in their natural state. They are delicious uncooked, however, in a warm, crumbly open-faced tart.

Custard Pies

Custard pies with a soft, silky, tender texture are simple mixtures of milk, eggs, sugar, and flavoring. Transparent pies made basically of eggs and sweeteners - pecan, chess, and shoofly pies, for example - are related to this group.

There's only one critical point about baked custard or transparent pie, and that's to be sure not to overbake it. These pies should be removed from the oven when the fillings are barely set and the centers still have a slight tremble when you shake them. When custard pies are hot, fresh from the oven, they continue to cook or bake until they are cool, so that little bit of trembliness will make the pies turn out exactly right. You want them to be just set, but moist and delicate.

Cream Pies

Cream pie fillings are made of milk, eggs, sugar, and flavors and are cooked on top of the stove. Because flour or cornstarch is added to the mixture as a thickener, a cream filling is not quite as delicate as a custard filling, but is rich and satisfying. After the cream filling is cooked, it is poured into a fully baked pie shell or crumb crust, and as it cools and sets, it thickens. (I've noticed that an inexperienced cook is often alarmed at how thin the filling is when first taken off the stove - don't be.) The pie often is covered with meringue or whipped-cream topping.

Chiffon Pies

Light and fluffy chiffon pies are cooked custard mixtures with a little gelatin added. After cooking, beaten egg whites are folded into the custard and the filling is piled into a baked pie shell, forming high, billowy mounds. These make marvelous desserts with lovely flavor and texture, and are ideal to finish a well-rounded meal.