Page 193 - United States of Pie

and still delectable would have been a ghastly proposition to
Strause.
He intended his book, Pie Marches On, for use by bakery and

restaurant chefs as much as by home bakers, with measurements
for making one pie (amateur!), five pies (getting there!), and ten
pies (now we’re cooking!) at a time. Strause has been called “The
King of Pies” and a “Pie Engineer,” but it is unclear who actually
coined these titles—it was likely Strause himself. As his success
as a pie specialist grew, his ego grew right alongside it, in
proportion with his towering meringue toppings. Strause traveled

the country, advising restaurant chefs and bakers about how they
too could produce the perfect pie.
Strause was not a modest man, no eater of humble pie. In a
town like Los Angeles, filled with movie stars and entertainment
industry executives, this was a man whose calling card was pie.
One of the very first pictures in Pie Marches On shows Strause

presenting an orange chiffon pie to Mary Pickford. Strause
towers over Pickford, and the pie is equally larger than life—at
least twelve inches in diameter, with a shocking, almost
aggressive, crown of stiff white chiffon peaks. Ms. Pickford, a
wisp of a thing, is poised, fork in hand, ready to dig into Strause’s
creation. The caption reads, “Mary Pickford, America’s
Sweetheart, tastes a delicious orange chiffon pie presented to her

by the author.” The photograph seems to suggest that Strause is
no simple baker, but rather a Svengali of all things sweet, ready
to work his nefarious magic through the power of pie.
Though Strause’s claim that he invented both the black bottom
pie and the Dutch apple pie is up for debate, he is likely the
inventor of chiffon pies, with many books and bakers citing his

responsibility for this voluminous confection. In Pie Marches On,
when introducing the lemon and orange chiffon pies to readers,
Strause states: “These recipes have been imitated by many, but
seldom equaled. Don’t be fooled by their simplicity because the
simplest things often give the best results.” He follows this sage
advice with a hint of bravado: “So take the doctor’s advice in
reading the prescription. Read it three times before attempting to

fill it.”