Mock Apple Pie
Okay, for how many years have you been reading that recipe on the box of Ritz crackers for "Mock Apple Pie" and wondering what it tastes like? Could it really taste at all like apple pie? C'mon, it's made from Ritz crackers, and they don't taste a thing like apples!
Haven't you always wondered what Mock Apple Pie actually tastes like? Admit it. So did our young friend Scotty, and that was the reason he gave for making one a week ago this past Monday. He felt like baking a pie and he'd always wondered what that recipe on the Ritz box tasted like. Therefore, he baked one. Now we all know, because Isaac and I were there for the tasting event.
Also part of the test was one mother who did not know that this was a mock apple pie; she pronounced it a pretty tasty apple pie and didn't recant when she was let in on its secret mockness. The rest of us found it not disagreeable in taste although the texture, while not at all bad, didn't scream out "apple pie" to us. I thought it was akin to what one might imagine for the taste and texture of something that might be called an "apple chess pie". We imagined that the suggestibility of appleness came in large part from the lemony tartness coupled with the bit of cinnamon flavoring.
Now, the origins of this mock apple delicacy seems shrouded in confusion, to judge by the handful of web pages I read this afternoon. One assures me that the pie predates Ritz crackers, but says no more. Some claim that it was an invention of depression-time deprivation, but we know it came much earlier; others suggest that it became popular during depression-time deprivation. Still others believe that it was invented or became popular during the second world war, when things like apples (they would claim) were scarce.
I think we can accept the following as facts. That "the National Biscuit Company created Ritz Crackers in 1933 and shortly afterward offered a recipe that would remain an adored oddity for over 40 years: Mock Apple Pie" (source), and that "Nabisco did not invent this fruit-free dessert, though its Ritz crackers – or similar buttery ones – make the best version" (source). Yet another notes that various "mock" recipes, in which dishes made from some ingredients masqueraded as other dishes made from entirely other ingredients, were popular in the 1930s and 1940s (source). The Wikipedia article on apple pie attributes the invention of mock apple pie to "pioneers on the move during the nineteenth century who were bereft of apples."
Here's another creation story that is written with an authoritative sound, but I'll reserve judgment and await further research (source):
Background: In the nineteenth century, American pioneers, short on supplies of fresh apples, came up with an innovative way to make their favorite pie without apples. Their secret: soda crackers. Americans, though disappointed with the lack of apples, became so enthralled with a easy-and-quick-to-make pie that tasted very much like the original that the recipe became a public success. In 1935, Ritz Crackers introduced a recipe that called for their very own round-shaped crackers. This recipe has become a classic.
These ideas about the earlier invention of a mock apple pie are supported by a recipe for "Apple Pie without Apples", using soda crackers, dating from 1863. Another recipe from six years later introduces lemons as a key ingredient. Look for these excerpts at the "Food Timeline" entry for apple pie — search for "mock" to find the section "What about mock apple pie?"
Regardless of its history, the universal opinion seems to be that Ritz crackers make a superior mock apple pie, and every version of it that I've seen is identical to the one that Kraft Foods promotes on their website and on every box of Ritz Crackers for "Ritz Mock Apple Pie":
Ritz Mock Apple Pie
- pastry for 2-crust 9-inch pie
- 36 RITZ Crackers, coarsely broken (about 1-3/4 cups crumbs)
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 tsp. cream of tartar
- Grated peel of 1 lemon
- 2 Tbsp. lemon juice
- 2 Tbsp. butter or margarine
- 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
PREHEAT oven to 425°F. Roll out half of the pastry and place in 9-inch pie plate. Place cracker crumbs in crust; set aside.
MIX sugar and cream of tartar in medium saucepan. Gradually stir in 1-3/4 cups water until well blended. Bring to boil on high heat. Reduce heat to low; simmer 15 minutes. Add lemon peel and juice; cool. Pour syrup over cracker crumbs. Dot with butter; sprinkle with cinnamon. Roll out remaining pastry; place over pie. Trim; seal and flute edges. Slit top crust to allow steam to escape.
BAKE 30 to 35 minutes or until crust is crisp and golden. Cool completely.
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on Friday, 8 June 2007 at 20.53
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I'm glad that Scotty made the pie, and amused that his mother was duly duped. Your comment that it tasted like "apple cheese pie" makes me wonder if he used Ritz cheese crackers instead of the plain variety.
The idea that people used crackers as a cheap alternative to apples has always struck me as improbable. Apples can be "found" without money, but crackers require a trip to a store and the exchange of cash for goods purchased.
on Friday, 8 June 2007 at 21.06
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This time, Bill, it's not a typo but a cultural difference. I typed "apple chess pie" intentionally: "chess pie" is a loose category of pie, typically Southern US, that includes such favorites as "Lemon Chess Pie" and "Pecan Pie". They are usually very sweet, made from very little more — it's always seemed to me — than sugar syrup and some flavoring.
Nobody seems to know why they're called "chess pie". Some people think it's because they were kept in "pie safes", or "pie chests". But then, other pies were too.
I rather prefer the theory that Cook was once asked what she was makin', to which she answered "Jes' pie", which mutated to "chess pie".
on Friday, 8 June 2007 at 21.46
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So we'll have to rewrite the Duke story so that the Duke, at the end of the meal, carefully keeping his fork (as he was instructed to do in the cultural briefing before he headed out to the lumber camp to 'pitch in' with the boys), asks, "What's for dessert?" And the cook says, "Nuthin' much, Duke, jes' pie."
on Friday, 8 June 2007 at 21.52
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Sounds fine, although I'm not sure that we've related the anecdote that goes with that favorite catch-phrase: "Save your fork, Duke, there's pie for dessert!"
on Friday, 8 June 2007 at 22.09
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Well, the story goes that, in years gone by, on one of his visits to Canada, the Duke of Edinburgh (husband of our most gracious Queen) was flown out into the bush to visit a logging camp. The visit included "dinner" (which, in good Canadian fashion, was of course at noon). When he had finished his main course, like a man well trained in proper table etiquette, he placed his knife and fork on his plate. The woman who cleared the table (she must have been the laundress brought in to do extra duty in the kitchen because the lumberjacks would not usually have someone waiting table for them), when she saw what the Duke had done, took his fork, set in on the table and, as she whisked away his plate, said, "Keep your fork, Duke. There's pie!"
on Saturday, 9 June 2007 at 11.13
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I have a couple of stories to tell prompted by ritz-cracker-apple-pie. But first, a minor harrumph:
your antispam comment question that came up with this post is:
Which lower-case letter follows 'a' in the alphabet?
This is not unambiguous. you mean (I suspect, having just failed the test) to refer to the sequence "abcdefg…". My first iteration took it to be asking "what letter comes after 'a' in 'alphabet' ", which got me thinking "is this lower-case-L, or lower-case-B". oh, I'm SO confused!
but we began with ritz cracker pie:
several (oh, okay, 24) years ago, I visited my friends Paul and Fran, who were the rectors of the last Anglican parish in Quebec on the lower north shore of the St Lawrence river, before it turns into Labrador. They lived in the village of Riviere-St-Paul, population 500. Their food supply was remarkably limited by our standards. Other than fish and occasional waterfowl, all the food to be had was purchased at the Hudson's Bay Company store (the HBC has since sold its northern stores, but I'll bet there's still only one shop in town). The HBC store was half-and-half: one side was a housegoods shop, where you'd get bedlinens or pots and pans or socks; the other side was a one aisle up, one aisle down supermarket. The entire meat department for this community was a chest freezer 2m long.
I was visiting in August, so the coastal boat was running (and indeed, that's how I left town). It made one trip a week from the towns further upstream, with road access, and travelled to/from Labrador, stopping at various villages along the way. With the boat running, supplies came in once a week. Even with that, the only fresh fruit available were apples and oranges, and pretty much the only tinned fruit I saw was pineapple and pears. Fresh veg were of the root variety – potatoes, onions, carrots. Not sure if there was much more.
When the river freezes, the deliveries stop of course. The entire town runs dry in February or so. The demand for hooch may be large, but there is literally zero supply. Some communities in the far north get perishable food flown in over the winter (and summer too, prolly), but the cost is through the roof. These fishing communities are dirt poor, just about everyone goes on (un)employment insurance benefits for the winter. They can't afford to buy a winter's worth of heating fuel oil (they drive to the nearest larger town, Blanc Sablon, which is about 45min down the coast, in their snowmobiles, out on the frozen river. much flatter, and easier on the vehicle, than the road. They bring back a smaller supply of fuel oil in drums in a "comitek" (toboggan with cargo box, spelling not guaranteed) towed behind the skidoo. When you're living that hand-to-mouth, I suspect that extra cash for fresh fruit would be in short supply.
While I wasn't served it, Fran assured me that Ritz-cracker-apple-pie is a staple at church/ potluck suppers in winter months.
I actually posted on this on soc.motss back in 2002.
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.motss/msg/fbfeb698db424fe5
and if that whets your appetite, this is the travelogue I posted ten years ago on my trip to Riviere-St-Paul, along with some comments on what it's like to be that isolated, and gay:
http://groups.google.ca/group/can.motss/msg/1cdddd6604ff1b61
now I hope I chose the right lower-case-letter to get this posted.
on Saturday, 9 June 2007 at 15.43
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I've been addicted to apple pie since childhood. Sure, I enjoy cake, other kinds of pie or ice cream now and then. But mostly, when I want a good dessert, apple pie comes first. In fact, if I for some reason had to settle on one and only one dessert type for the rest of my life, apple pie would get the nod.
All of which leads me wonder why, when for most people most of the time apples are relatively cheap and plentiful, one would want to make mock apple pie. Well, OK, maybe making it once for the novelty, the experience, makes sense. But after that?
BTW, I'm no expert on pecan pie, but having partaken of it in deep-South settings more than once or twice, I'm sure there's more going on there ingredient-wise than Jeff seems to think.