Apple Pie

Yesterday I made Apple Pie. This is actually more a review, because I used crust and filling recipes from Good Eats episodes. My mom makes apple pie that will melt your face. her crusts are divine. Mine was alright.

First off the original recipes are here:

Crust:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/no-pan-pear-pie-recipe/index.html

Filling:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/good-eats/super-apple-pie-recipe/index.html

The crust I did basically as is. The Filling I made some serious edits. Firstly I pretty much just had Macintosh apples. I also used corn starch instead of tapioca flour, and bottled lemon instead of fresh lime. Finally for the spicing. I couldn't find grains of paradise, so I used five whole cloves, ten black pepper corns, and probably eight fennel seeds. I ground them up and tossed them in.

My big issue with this was that i followed the baking instructions from the filling, which were a bit over enthusiastic. If you do this I would advise sticking to lower temperatures or shorter times. My other issue was that the crust directions were a bit hard to follow for me. In the show i think it is better explained, and I know most crust recipes are more helpful. my crust came out a bit over cooked. BUT. the reduced juice topping was insanely delicious. it basically formed apple caramel all over the pie. It was awesome. Also my spice load out fucking ruled. normal pie filling is a major psychological event. My pie filling made normal pie filling look like dick cheese.