Page 17 - Pie Squared

tested and retested, until the crusts and fillings in the recipes that
follow became utterly dependable and positively delicious.

To make a slab pie is not as straightforward as just doubling any
old pie recipe. It’s a different pie altogether. Right off the bat, the ratio
is different: It’s twice as much crust but only half as much filling.
Along the way, I learned to approach pie making differently. I

tweaked the seasonings, tinkered with the dough recipe, and learned
to rely on a pattern of frequent chilling during the pie-making
process.
Fruit pies were clear cut—add more fruit. Other sweet pies

worked the same way, with more pudding, nuts, chocolate, or chiffon.
The sweet pie recipes just needed a mathematical nudge.
Savory pies were different. Too much salt was catastrophic and
too little was a crying shame. Seasonings had to be assertive. The

fillings had to cook for just the right amount of time. And I wanted
these mealtime pies packed with vegetables that were crisp and
flavorful, not mushy and indistinguishable.
I set out to rework old favorites into Ham and Gruyère Slab Pie

(here) and Chicken Pot Slab Pie (here) and soon moved on to other
flavors I love at dinner, wondering how they might work when slipped
between two layers of flaky crust. And while I considered sweet slab
pies the ideal option for larger gatherings, savory pies were dinner

and then the next day’s lunch (Beefy Empanada Slab Pie, here). Or
savory slab pies were the phoenix rising out of a stingy collection of
leftovers (Cowboy Beef Stew Slab Pie, here, and “The Reuben” Slab
Pie, here). We learned to love pie for lunch, as though we were

eating in a proper London pub.
Along with savory pies came savory crusts: cheddar-flecked,
studded with caramelized onion, decorated with seeds, or with
cheese scattered over the top. And then came the combinations.

That’s the thing about pie. It’s very adaptable.
Each recipe offers suggestions for Swaps for alternate crusts,
filling ingredients, and toppings. Consider the Southern-Style Tomato
Slab Pie (here), where an alternative to the Cheddar Cheese Crust

(here) is an All-Butter Crust (here). Or the Loaded Baked Potato
Slab Pie (here), where a Pretzel Crust (here), pressed in, can