The Best Cherry Pie
Prep
30m
Cook
60m
Total
90m
Bigly says
Sit down for this one. The BEST cherry pie. I want to be very clear, very clear about this — most cherry pies in this country are a TOTAL CATASTROPHE. Total. Catastrophe. You go to a diner, you order cherry pie, what do they bring you? A red gooey nightmare with a single sad maraschino cherry on top, a filling that came out of a CAN, a crust that has the structural integrity of wet paper. It's a disaster. The cherry pie situation in America has been allowed to deteriorate for DECADES and nobody is doing anything about it. Until now.
My grandmother made this. She was a tough woman. She didn't smile much. She had a rolling pin she'd had since the Truman administration and she used it like a weapon, mostly against bad dough but occasionally against the people who made bad dough. She taught me one thing about cherry pie and one thing only — use the SOUR cherries. The Montmorencys. The cherries that taste like a cherry that has THINGS TO SAY. Sweet Bing cherries in a pie? Sad. Boring. Nothing to contribute. Sour cherries punch you in the mouth and then kiss you and you don't know what just happened but you want it again. It's just a fact.
My cherry pie? Sour cherries. Real ones, frozen if you can't find fresh — and you probably can't, the cherry distribution in this country is BROKEN — with a glossy ruby filling that tastes like cherry concentrate from heaven, and an all-butter lattice crust on top because lattice is what separates the artists from the amateurs. Big strong men eat this pie and they get EMOTIONAL. Tough men. They cry. They call their mothers. They apologize for things they did in 1997. It's a powerful pie. The most powerful pie. Believe me.
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cupsall-purpose flour (for crust)
- 1 tbspgranulated sugar (for crust)
- 1 tspkosher salt (for crust)
- 1 cup (2 sticks)cold unsalted butter, cubed(ice cold, freezer cold, the colder the better)
- 1/2 cup, approximatelyice water
- 5 cupspitted sour cherries (fresh or frozen, not thawed)(Montmorency if you can find them, never canned pie filling)
- 1 cupgranulated sugar (for filling)(sour cherries need it, do not skimp)
- 1/4 cupcornstarch
- 1 tbsplemon juice, fresh
- 1/2 tspalmond extract(the secret weapon, do not skip)
- 1 tspvanilla extract
- 1/4 tspkosher salt (for filling)
- 2 tbspunsalted butter, cubed (for filling)
- 1large egg (for egg wash)
- 1 tbspheavy cream (for egg wash)
- 2 tbspturbinado sugar (for sprinkling)
Steps
- 1
Make the crust: whisk flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Add cubed butter and toss to coat. Cut the butter into the flour with a pastry cutter or your fingers until you have a mix of pea-sized and almond-sized chunks.
- 2
Drizzle in ice water a few tablespoons at a time, tossing with a fork, until the dough just holds together when squeezed. Do not overwork it.
- 3
Divide into two discs (one slightly larger). Wrap in plastic and refrigerate at least 1 hour, up to 2 days.
- 4
Make the filling: in a large bowl, toss cherries with sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice, almond extract, vanilla, and salt. Let sit 15 minutes — the cherries will release juice and the cornstarch will hydrate.
- 5
Preheat oven to 425F with a rack in the lower third and a sheet pan on it.
- 6
Roll the larger disc on a lightly floured surface into a 12-inch circle. Transfer to a 9-inch pie plate. Leave a 1-inch overhang.
- 7
Pour the cherry filling (and any juices) into the crust. Dot with the 2 tbsp cubed butter.
- 8
Roll the second disc into a 12-inch circle. Cut into 3/4-inch strips and weave a lattice over the filling. Trim, fold the edges under, crimp decoratively.
- 9
Whisk egg and cream and brush over the lattice and crimped edge. Sprinkle generously with turbinado sugar.
- 10
Place pie on the preheated sheet pan. Bake at 425F for 20 minutes, then reduce heat to 375F and bake another 40-50 minutes, until the crust is deep golden and the filling is bubbling thickly in the center.
- 11
Cool on a rack at least 4 hours before slicing. The filling needs to set or you'll get cherry soup.
One more thing
This is THE cherry pie. The one your grandmother wishes she had made. The one your kids will remember when they're 60 years old, sitting on a porch somewhere, thinking 'why doesn't pie taste like that anymore.' It tastes like that because YOU made it. Because YOU listened to Bigly. Because YOU used sour cherries instead of the sweet ones the supermarket pushes on you like it's doing you a favor. Serve it slightly warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and watch the room go silent. Silent rooms are a sign of greatness. Trust the silence. It's a beautiful thing.
★ QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS ONE? ★
Ask Bigly about The Best Cherry Pie.
Substitutions, what to serve it with, why other chefs are wrong about it. He's got opinions.
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