A Mathematical Wonder?
I remember struggling with theorems in ninth grade math.
Was I resisting the mathematical concepts, or was I just a distracted 13 year old in the 1966 social chaos? I had little understanding of myself, my preferences or my competencies at that age. Life was filled with big resistance.
Some form of inspiration arose in the second semester. I assembled my wits, buckled down and turned in dozens of pages of back homework. Mr. Miller’s educated eyes softened atop a sly smile. “I knew you could do it.”
Have you noticed how understanding shepherds revelation, even accomplishment? The following fall, theorems of corresponding angles, triangle congruence, circles and parallelograms fell into place. Visual evidence accompanied abstract theory. Pythagoras was my friend.
A key insight was that I process information visually and, in fact, it cements images almost photographically. I loved geometry.
In mathematics, the first of Euclid’s five general axioms is: “Things which are equal to the same thing are equal to each other.”
Translated to food: considering the pairings of chocolate and strawberries and chocolate and bananas, it would then follow that strawberries and bananas have flavor affinities with one another. Hmm.
Mathematics notwithstanding, that distinctive and elevated flavor relationship is also true for strawberries and Oregon’s beloved Marionberry – and other blackberry varieties.
Saying that Oregon grows the preeminent strawberry way understates the significance of the Oregon berry’s history and its cultivars.
There are three types of wild strawberries indigenous to Oregon and Washington. Each variety is noticeably smaller in size than the ubiquitous garden strawberry, grows in very limited areas in Oregon and Washington – the western Cascades, higher elevations – and is distinctly richer in strawberry flavor.
The Oregon wild strawberry had a re-invention at the time of the colonization of the Americas. Breeders began designing strawberry lines that would become more disease resistant… a 10-15-year process from cross-breeding to market. Breeders cleverly placed the flavors of Oregon’s wild strawberries back into the fruit we love today.
“Let me take you down,
’cause I’m going to Strawberry Fields.
Nothing is real,
And nothing to get hung about.
Strawberry Fields forever.” Lennon & McCartney
John Lennon had very specific memories as a child attached to playing in the garden of Strawberry Field, a children’s home in Liverpool, England.
What’s the first association you have with a fresh strawberry?
Is it tasting the tender burst of sweetness and slight tang?
Was it picking them – perhaps, wild – with friends?
Is your first memory of strawberries in your grandmother’s pie?
How about sandwiched inside layers of shortcake with whipped cream?
What did that experience evoke?
Carefree childhood summers?
A family garden?
Perhaps, the pure pleasure of the intoxicating scent?
Humans are wired to taste things deeply, and the memory of a taste or scent often lingers long.
Viewing images and shapes with an eye for scale, balance and triangular proportion serves me well as a pastry chef.
I have the angst of a 13 year old – and Mr. Miller – to thank for it.
Essential Strawberry Pie™
Yield: 1, 9″ pie | 8 servings
This is where the strawberry-balsamic reduction we did recently pays off. You may have noticed that I removed the word ‘Marionberry’ from the recipe title. Better that you’re encouraged to make a fabulous spring strawberry pie than to discourage you for lack of fresh Marionberries (which arrive in July) or blackberries. In this recipe, Marionberries/blackberries are optional.
Here, also, is where I make my case for enriched pastry dough. Essential Confection sells our luxurious foundational desserts to restaurants. After sampling a hotel executive chef with our pie, he asked if we could make the crust thicker. Huh? I’d always prioritized a thin, flaky, flavorful crust to ensure our fab fillings were the star.
With some hesitation, I complied and was, admittedly, rewarded. The thicker enriched crust is super-tender, has a lovely mouthfeel and is immensely flavorful. Some might say, it’s the best part of the pie. Debatable, but a lovely and worthy complement to any fruit pie. My fruit pie standard.
Ingredients
~75-100 grams | 2.6-3.5 oz (roughly 1/2 of the recipe yield) Essential Strawberry Balsamic Reduction
725 grams | 25 oz local strawberries, rinsed, hulled, sliced
300 grams | 10.6 oz Marionberries or blackberries (optional – see NOTE)
130 grams | 4.6 oz sugar
31 grams | ~1 oz cornstarch
2.6 grams | 1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 lemon, zested
4.2 grams | 1 tsp VE (vanilla extract)
14 grams | 1 T unsalted butter, cut in 6 pieces
2 recipes enriched pastry dough (295-300 grams each, below, or you can use 212-215 grams for a thin crust)
1 egg
15 grams | 1 T heavy cream
NOTE: If Marionberries/blackberries ARE desired in the pie, reduce the quantity of strawberries by 300 grams.
Procedure
Roll one pastry disc to 11″. Fit into a 9″ pie plate sprayed with pan spray. (Prefer Crisco Pan Release) Sprinkle fitted dough with 1-2 T all-purpose flour. Roll the second disc to a 10″ circle. Place atop the bottom dough. Chill.
Combine cornstarch, cinnamon, lemon zest and sugar in a separate bowl. Add fresh strawberries and strawberry reduction (and optional Marionberries); toss lightly. Sprinkle with VE.
Dot filling with pats of butter. In a small bowl, stir together the egg and heavy cream. Brush egg wash around pastry rim. Place second crust on top. Press to seal thoroughly. Cut 4 vents in center of pie; cut 4 other smaller vents, staggered, around outer edge. Egg wash the entire top taking care not to allow wash to slide between the crust and pan. Ensure vents are open.
Bake at 360 F, conventional, for 55-60 minutes or until filling bubbles from the center vents and crust is evenly brown, rotating halfway through.
Cool at room temperature. Gently score top to facilitate slicing. Chill thoroughly and slice.
Enriched Pastry Dough
Yield: 7 thin crusts (212-215 g) or 5 thick crusts (295-300 g) each
Ingredients
750 grams | 26.5 oz all-purpose flour
125 grams | 4.4 oz sugar
375 grams | 13.2 oz unsalted butter, in 1/2″ pieces
60 grams (3) egg yolks
188 grams | 6.6 oz cold water
7.5 grams | 1-1/4 tsp kosher salt
Stir flour and sugar in the bowl of a standard mixer. Add the butter; beat until it’s well blended and no large lumps remain. Use your fingers to gently sift through. Butter pieces should be the size of tiny peas when fully blended.
Using a fork, stir the eggs yolks with the water and kosher salt in a large measuring cup until well mixed. With the mixer at low speed, add the liquid to the flour mixture all at once. Beat until it’s completely absorbed and no dry ingredients remain on the bottom of the bowl. Do not over-beat.
Scale dough into either 212-215 gram or 295-300 gram discs. Wrap individually. Use a marker to write an “E” on the wrap and, either, use immediately or freeze. Refrigeration for more than 1-2 days will cause oxidation.
Happy pie making. Buon viaggio!
