Evening Edge.com
Blanche 'Dottie' Green's Fried Pies
Blanche 'Dottie' Green's Fried Pies
Saving Southern Food
A reader reconstructed her mother's recipe for fried pies, and Saving Southern Food chefs panel member Virginia Willis had good luck following her instructions.
The contributor: Blanche "Dottie" Green of Connesena, a tiny northwest Georgia community near Kingston/Adairsville that she claims is "about the prettiest place anywhere on Earth."
The story:
"My mother, Evelyn Young Griffin, was the most amazing cook I've ever known. Lots of school mornings we would go to the kitchen and she would have prepared bacon, sausage and ham, not just one, but all three! She would also have homemade biscuits and perfect sawmill gravy, cheesy scrambled eggs, fried eggs, grits with melted butter and homemade jams with country butter. I truly don't know how she did it with six growing children.
"Sometimes after school she would have half-moon fried pies, fried and stacked perfectly on a plate. These were made from dried apples, or my favorite was tangy dried peaches. She dried the fruit on screens in the backyard during summer.
"I have recently gotten the knack of making these fried pies, but it's been very difficult learning. I don't dry the peaches and apples on a screen like my mother did; I buy them at the grocery store or the international farmers market. Mine are not always as pretty as hers were. I don't know how she made them all the same size! If I had realized how difficult they were to make, I would have watched her make them much more closely. I fix them for church socials and for my family and friends, and they rave over them. It is good they never got to taste my mother's fried pies, or I'd be out of luck for sure.
"My own granddaughter, McKenzie (Mac), begs me to make those pies now just like we did as kids 50 years ago. You know, some things just never go out of style."
Blanche 'Dottie' Green's Fried Pies
Blanche 'Dottie' Green's Fried Pies
Saving Southern Food
A reader reconstructed her mother's recipe for fried pies, and Saving Southern Food chefs panel member Virginia Willis had good luck following her instructions.
The contributor: Blanche "Dottie" Green of Connesena, a tiny northwest Georgia community near Kingston/Adairsville that she claims is "about the prettiest place anywhere on Earth."
The story:
"My mother, Evelyn Young Griffin, was the most amazing cook I've ever known. Lots of school mornings we would go to the kitchen and she would have prepared bacon, sausage and ham, not just one, but all three! She would also have homemade biscuits and perfect sawmill gravy, cheesy scrambled eggs, fried eggs, grits with melted butter and homemade jams with country butter. I truly don't know how she did it with six growing children.
"Sometimes after school she would have half-moon fried pies, fried and stacked perfectly on a plate. These were made from dried apples, or my favorite was tangy dried peaches. She dried the fruit on screens in the backyard during summer.
"I have recently gotten the knack of making these fried pies, but it's been very difficult learning. I don't dry the peaches and apples on a screen like my mother did; I buy them at the grocery store or the international farmers market. Mine are not always as pretty as hers were. I don't know how she made them all the same size! If I had realized how difficult they were to make, I would have watched her make them much more closely. I fix them for church socials and for my family and friends, and they rave over them. It is good they never got to taste my mother's fried pies, or I'd be out of luck for sure.
"My own granddaughter, McKenzie (Mac), begs me to make those pies now just like we did as kids 50 years ago. You know, some things just never go out of style."