Wednesday, November 10

Mrs. Smith takes cake when it comes to pie

Sarah Fritschner

The (Louisville, Ky.) Courier-Journal

The winner is Mrs. Smith's.

Mrs. Smith's makes the best frozen apple pies. This holiday season, if you're "in charge of bringing dessert," you could do far worse than choosing a Mrs. Smith's apple pie and a carton of vanilla ice cream.

Frozen pie has come a long way, and we're in the midst of a $147 million pie-eating frenzy for the next five weeks or so, if last year's numbers hold up.

The crust on a frozen apple pie - virtually any frozen apple pie - tastes like frozen pie crust. Duh! Some people say they won't eat a pie made with frozen crust - it's a sort of not-worth-the-calories decision they make.

But there's a legion of people who were raised on pies made with frozen or other mass-produced crusts; for whom the insipid flavor and texture is normal. They have the advantage over pie-crust snobs in this arena.

Even a pie-crust snob, bearing down on a slice of warm pie with an ice-cold scoop of vanilla ice cream, will get a lot of pleasure out of Mrs. Smith's pie. It wrinkles and cracks as it bakes to make an appealing top crust, made, according to a spokesman, from "virgin" crust rolled only once.

The filling is where the nuance sets in. Details separate Mrs. Smith's from the other contenders. The crumb topping on the "Dutch apple crumb" pie is not too sweet, so you get more apple flavor from the fruit. Sara Lee's crumb is super-sweet and so is the pie filling. Mrs. Smith's deep-dish apple pie (a hefty 3 pounds of pie) has a filling that seems as natural as homemade. Marie Callender's is gummier, a little downscale.

Sara Lee makes totally reliable apple pie, too. Like Mrs. Smith's, its frozen pie crust is a nonissue, although bottom crusts are a little pastier and didn't brown as well as Mrs. Smith's. The fruit is firm and natural tasting, the filling a little too sweet but overall perfectly acceptable.

For sugar versus corn syrup types out there, some Sara Lee pies use the real thing while Mrs. Smith's uses corn syrup.

Marie Callender's Dutch and crust-topped pies have more flaws but aren't horrible.

The one little caveat - it being frozen pie season - is that the pies take a while to bake. Mrs. Smith's deep dish bakes for 80 minutes, and then should sit for 45 minutes. Piping hot pie is not fun to eat and less fun to transfer from pan to plate. If you're facing limited oven and counter space, these might be issues for you.

Frozen apple pies cost $4 to $6, depending on how large the pie (from 2 pounds 5 ounces to more than 3 pounds). Sometimes, especially during pie season, you'll find them on sale. Serve it with vanilla ice cream, surround it with relatives and conversation, and you might think you're eating homemade.

On the Web:

• Mrs. Smith's

• Marie Callender

• Sara Lee