I can't imagine that a pie made with canned cherry pie filling would be good, regardless of how many ingredients are in the crust. Too much sugar! It destroys the flavor of the fruit. Frozen cherries with no added sugar are a much better option. At least then you know what you've added and have more control over the results.
for years we have grown our own tart cherries at our home in Missouri. We recently moved to Minnesota and the first change in our new home is to plant two tart cherries here in our yard. North Star was bred here in the North, and in our opinion made better pie than Montmorency, at least from our terroir in SW Missouri. I have also planted Surefire, a late bloomer with dark red juice like Morello cherries. I had one of those in Missouri, but it succumbed to the heat and humidity and other pests. Eagerly anticipating fresh, tart cherries, for home made pie! I'll show the recipe to my wife, but I suspect she will just keep on with her own system.
3
I grew up with my Hungarian grandmother's tart cherry strudel, with fruit from her giant tree in Pittsburgh. Years ago, I drove all over Massachusetts trying to find tart cherries to pick or buy from a farm. No deal. Finally, I planted two North Start dwarfs, which are thriving and have given me a number of quarts over the years. However, last year, I went out with a bowl to finally pick, having checked on the ripeness of the cherries for a week. To my extreme horror, there was not a cherry on the tree!! The birds got them all over the course of a few hours, according to a neighbor. (I still wonder if the neighbor got them. ) I have already bought my bird netting for this year.
3
Yeah, how would your neighbor know for sure?
Did they watch the tree while the birds picked it clean?
No way
Did they watch the tree while the birds picked it clean?
No way
1
Thank you Sara! What a great review - the sublime perfection of a carmine cherry pie...
I long for a sour-cherry pie. The problem here in Southern California is that sour cherries are simply not available, neither fresh nor frozen. I have looked everywhere. I do not count canned cherries--just not the same. I envy those of you who live where there is winter enough to satisfy cherry trees, but also note that bing cherries must be easier to handle and market, so have taken over. Need sour cherries for a pie. Sigh.
2
You can order them during cooler months, at great expense, from King Orchards in Michigan. They're quite good, shipped with dry ice. That's what I did until I planted my own trees.
1
Costco in my area (San Francisco) occ carries them (frozen) so I buy several bags then. Good luck!
A great cherry pie is made with, as many as can fit in pie shell ( deep dish), Montmorency sour cherries, mixed with some flour to thicken and white granulated sugar not too much (should be tart). The pie crust is a butter crust with lattice top crust. Cherries not syrup and tart not sickening sweet are essential. It is the contrast between the sweet sour cherries and the buttery crust that gives you delight. "Can she bake a cherry pie? Billy Boy" old song points out that getting the right sweet sour taste in a flaky crust isn't so easy.
5
You'll never beat my aunt's cherry pie. Simple recipe. The best crust you ever had. The secret is her experienced, loving hands.
3
I remember agent Dale Cooper once used the phrase, "Damn good coffee, and hot!"
I know because I used an analog betamax machine to record it, and then I put Kyle Maclachlan on my answering machine.
My law school classmates thought I was nuts. But in age of digital and social media, people share that sort of thing all the time.
I know because I used an analog betamax machine to record it, and then I put Kyle Maclachlan on my answering machine.
My law school classmates thought I was nuts. But in age of digital and social media, people share that sort of thing all the time.
9
When I lived in Seattle for about a hot second, my, now husband, and I went to North Bend for a day trip and had a slice of cherry pie at Twede's Cafe along with some coffee. I can't remember what the coffee was like but I'm sad to report that the pie was nothing to write home about. Overly sweet with that horrid, lingering canned cherry aftertaste.
5
The best sour cherries are from Michigan. No other variety comes close for cherry pie. They freeze well if you need comfort food in winter. I've used ground tapioca when having trouble with clumping corn starch.
16
Traverse City, 4th of July!
5
i got obsessed with cherry pie as a result of Twin Peaks. my brother had a sour cherry tree growing in his side of the shared yard and would make the mistake of going on vacation just as the tree was bearing fruit. i would go over and take it all. i think the best thickener to use is instant tapioca. and let the pie cool so it has a chance to set up. i do not have any tattoos and don't really have any plans to get one, especially after chickening out one rainy saturday morning in Galway, but if i did, it would be the slice of cherry pie seen on the Glad Wrap box, with little puffy white angel wings.
16
Make sure that the coffee served with that pie has not been anywhere near a fish.
12
I love fresh cherries and a cherry pie too, as long as it is not viscous, gooey, soggy or too fluid. Alas, my preference is not shared by the majority of the cherry-pie-loving Usans (= Americans).
3
Agreed. Should be neither gooey nor runny … and densely packed with tart cherries, not filler.
6
As a cherry pie obsessive, I must point out how difficult it is to find fresh sour cherries. The season is short ... best bet is to hit the Union Square Greenmarket at the exact right time...usually early or mid July . But blink and you'll miss them! Also a good idea is to cook the cherries on the stove with sugar and a bit of almond extract or kitsch to extract excess moisture before filling the crust so it isn't too soggy. Anyone out there freeze cherries?
5
I have frozen sour cherries from the Greenmarket, to good results. In fact, at least one of the vendors there SELLS frozen sour cherries after the sour-cherry season has done its noted vanishing act.
6
yes, we had as many as 30 pies worth of cherries in our freezer at a time. Once they thaw, keeping the juice made great, tart cocktails.
3
NYT recipe suggests adding fresh lime zest--transcendingly sublime.
"Twin Peaks Access Guide to the Town", an official tie-in book from 1991, includes THE cherry pie recipe. Page 78!
18
Metric measurements! Thank you!
3