A Year of Pies: A Seasonal Tour of Home Baked Pies
*Starred Review* In her back-of-the-book acknowledgments, nutritionist-author (the Homemade Living series, including Keeping Chickens, 2010, and Keeping Bees, 2011) English thanks husband Glenn for his pie-eating prowess, six months straight. Obviously, there’s a reason why many would volunteer for that kind of hardship, judging from the more than 60 recipes alone. English’s talent is twofold: repurposing a traditional dish while staying true to its food legacy and giving us foolproof instructions and color step-by-step photographs for making piecrusts right. Also, her approach, as with all good chefs, is seasonal, as is her collection, divided into winter, spring, summer, and autumn. Interspersing savory with sweet, she proffers some intriguing, gotta-make-this kinds of pie: rosemary-bourbon sweet-potato pie, ratatouille and polenta pie, carrot pie, and buttered-rum shoofly pie. Tools and ingredients, along with an all-too-brief history of this delectable entrée-dessert, make up her first chapters, with most space dedicated to recipes, great color photographs, tips, and variations for many. --Barbara Jacobs