Review: The Secret is the Method
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 03 25, 2012
Long ago and far away I found myself a young Army wife living in Germany where nobody made American style pies except Americans and even the big Commissary (a military grocery store) didn't carry the pie crust mix my mother & I had always used at home - or any pie crust mix at all.  Since I was feeding a husband and most of his platoon and they all loved pie, I dug out my reliable Joy of Cooking and set about learning to make pie crust from scratch, something I knew was easily done because my own Grandma made pie crust just about every day of her life without so much as taking a measuring cup (she only owned one) out of the drawer.  I did just exactly as the book said - used two knives to cut in the butter.  What an absolute disaster that pie crust was.  Frankly, it bore a tremendous amount of resemblance to sole of combat boot.  You could have broken a tooth on the thing.  Since Julia never mentions pie crust or even pie and The Joy could do nothing further to enlighten me, I wrote home to Grandma.  A month or so later (Ah - for those lovely days before email and cheap long distance!) I finally had her reply:  The secret is in the method.Vicki Wells does a grand job of explaining all the various tricks (well, most of them - I've one or two up my sleeve yet) that will have frustrated pie bakers turning out a great pie crust every time.  You'll find an interactive Table of Contents that interfaces correctly with the Kindle Navigation menu too.  Surprisingly, Vicki did somehow miss the mark with the link to ceramic pie weights, but ceramic pie weights are hardly necessary.Great little book Vicki!  Recommended