Congratulations to everyone who entered a pie in the Second Annual Portland Pie-Off. The competition was stiff but how lucky were we to have such a beautiful summer day to enjoy it all?
Welcoming back competitors from last year was like seeing old friends again, and meeting so many of you first timers? You definitely brought your game. It was on!
Here are the winners of the 2009 Portland Pie-Off:
Best Stone Fruit Pie: Jenny Cook for Brown Butter and Bourbon Peach Pie
Best Nut Pie: Miranda Layton for Pecan Pie
Best CPR Pie: Dereth Salchak for Coconut Pineapple Rum/Piña Colada Pie
Best Mash-Up Pie: Alison Greco for Cucumber Honeydew White Chocolate Icebox Pie
Best Custard Pie: Jennifer Hudspeth for Buttermilk Chess Pie
Best Berry Pie: Ares Philabaum for Berry Sweet Pie
Best Crème Pie: Sara Gray for Coconut Cream Pie
Best Fruit Pie: Sabrina Miller for {a cranberry apple pie}
Best Savory Pie: David Molner for Moroccan Lambstravaganza
Prettiest Pie: Elizabeth Fuss for Stavros Pie
Grand Prize/Best Overall Pie: Alison Greco for Cucumber Honeydew White Chocolate Icebox Pie
And for the wonderful support from County Commissioner Cogen and our friends at OurPDX.
The Portland Pie-Off is completely volunteer run and funded by the Pie Commissioners out of our own pockets. Your donation for pie entries helps offset the costs of park rental, supplies, and event insurance: thank you!
The Pie-Off is today and I’m up early taking care of last minute details and getting things ready. Making lists and checking things off those lists. I made my pies last night, and I must say – they don’t look too bad.
Maybe you are wishing you had made your pies last night too and had registered online. Maybe you are thinking that it’s too late to enter. I’m here to tell you that it’s not too late. You still have time. If you bake your pie this morning and can get it to Peninsula Park by 1:00 this afternoon – you’re in. We can handle your registration on-site. Here’s a little hint: We’re a little light on Best Nut Pie entries, so a nut pie would be a good pie to make. You don’t need to be the greatest pie baker in the world. The Pie-Off embraces all skill levels. Last year a ten year-old baker won Best Mash-Up pie.
Since I’ve been making a lot of list for the last two days, I’ve decided to make a list for you.
If you’re bringing a pie today – here’s what you’ll need:
Your pie
A recipe card or list of ingredients (for those who didn’t register online)
Something to serve your pie with (pie server, spatula, etc)
(You might want to take a gander at the rules)
If you’re just coming to eat pie – here’s what you’ll need:
A healthy appetite
Any kind of topping you want for your pie. If you need ice cream, or whipped cream or a slice of cheddar for that apple pie – bring it with you. Bring some to share.
It’s also a good idea for everyone to bring the following:
Chairs or picnic blankets
Something to do while the judging takes place
Beverages (no booze – Portland Parks & Regulation rules)
A high-on-pie attitude
Your camera (pies are pretty – you’ll want photos)
Peninsula Park is a beautiful park. There’s a swimming pool there and a little water feature for the kids to play in. You might want to bring a swimsuit too.
So there you have it. I can honestly tell you I have no idea how many pies or people to expect. One thing I do know for sure, though: Pie brings people together and it should be a pretty good time.
You may also register your pies in person the day-of the event.
Please bring something to serve your pie with (pie server, spatula, whatever works).
Some people like to make little signs that go with their pie, give it a name, etc. You don’t have to, but you can. But you DO need to bring a recipe card or list of your pie ingredients (for food allergy purposes).
Please get to Peninsula Park, picnic site B, no later than 1pm. You can even get there early if you want to make sure you’re good-to-go.
From about 1pm-3pm, judging will take place. There’s not a lot to watch during this time. We suggest you bring a picnic, or games, or a blanket, and just explore and enjoy this historic park. The sunken rose garden with a fountain is pretty special. And lucky for you, our friends at KoiFusion will have their fantastic taco truck adjacent to the park and the Pie-Off from 1-3pm: grab some Korean tacos and grub!
Once judging is completed, and all of the pies have been tasted, scores tallied, we’ll have a quick, informal awards ceremony. No microphone, no fancy speeches, just lots of applause and ribbons and prizes for the winners, and their opportunity to stand by their winning pie and take in the moment of winning.
Then everyone will be able to eat pie: that’s the real win, isn’t it? mmmPie!
“When you die, if you get a choice between going to regular heaven or pie heaven, choose pie heaven. It might be a trick, but if it’s not, mmmmmmmm, boy.”
-Jack Handey, American humorist
What if your pie was so good, so wonderful, so tasty, that it were to win Best Overall Pie? The grand champion? The winner of the biggest ribbon at the Pie-Off?
But what if it was so good that it was served at Little Red Bike Cafe? Your wish is our command.
The Best Overall Pie winner will have the opportunity to have their pie served at Little Red Bike Cafe.
Is it ON now? Oh it’s ON. Bring your game piemakers!
We live in Portland – home of all things green, sustainable and all other names for being environmentally friendly. Because we live in this bastion of greenliness, we occasionally will get frowny faces from people in places like grocery stores if we forget our reusable bags. One might also receive a squinty eye if stepping out of a car bigger than say, the latest printing of the Sunday New York Times. But if you host a Portland backyard party and there are – gasp – paper items to eat and wipe hands, those neighbors will be gossiping about your forever!
The Portland Pie-Off is IN PORTLAND! What’s a Pie-Off Commissioner to do? She calls her friends at Trellis Earth to help with the dishes. Trellis Earth makes biodegradable items made from corn. Check out their website for more specific details on their product and how it breaks down safely for the environment. Trellis Earth has graciously donated all of our plates, forks and napkins for the Pie-Off and didn’t ask for anything in return. Just wanted to do a good deed and help our burgeoning pie competition.
Thank you, Clayton and the team at Trellis Earth for helping us have a successful and environmentally friendly event!
P.S. Sometimes I just FORGET my reusable bag…don’t frown at me. At least I’m car free, gimmie some points…
Last year’s overall winner of the Portland Pie-Off, Tricia Butler, was interviewed by Cooking Up A Story about what it takes to make a winning pie. Check out this movie as Tricia shows us the secrets to her award-winning Tomato Pie.
This year, Tricia is a judge for the Portland Pie-Off, but word is, she’s been enjoying her Pie Cozy all year long. Don’t you want a Pie Cozy? Register on-line by this Thursday and you just might get one too.
Last year’s pie-off was a great success and so much fun. It was the first time the Portland Pie Commission has hosted such an event and while it was great, there are a few things we’re doing differently this year to enhance the experience for contestants and on-lookers alike. For example, we’ve invited more judges this year and I have to say we have a really great roster of people.
Another big change is that we are providing a way for contestants to register their pie entries online. There are several benefits to doing it this way. One benefit is that it will give the Pie Commission an idea of how many people and pies to expect. Last year we had 49 pies. I am anticipating that we will have many more pie entries this year, but I will sleep better at night knowing if that number will be 100 pies or 300 pies. Logistics and all that. I’m sure you understand.
Another benefit is that it will make the event run much smoother. If you register online, all you have to do is show up with your pie. We’ll already have your information and a completed entry form. No waiting in line behind someone who is taking their sweet time chatting up the folks at the registration table and trying to remember all the ingredients in their pie. Headaches saved all around.
But there is one another bonus to registering your pie online. If you register your pie entry online by midnight on Thursday, August 13th – you will be automatically entered to win a special prize. What is this special prize, you ask? It’s a home made pie-cozy, sewn with love by my mom and pie-off judge wrangler – aka The Hammer. The cozy will be made out of these super cute fabrics.
I know you want one because I want one. But wait, there’s more. In addition to the pie-cozy, you will also win this book. It’s a good one. I’ve read it.
We’ve already had some contestants register online and it’s been so much fun reading about what pies people are planning to bring. Don’t you fret, though. All of your secret pie plans will be held in the strictest confidence by the Pie Commission. We wouldn’t dream of stealing your pie-in-the-sky ideas.
One of the biggest surprises at last year’s Pie-Off were the number and types of Savory Pies. None of us Pie Commissioners had even considered people might be interested in making savory pies. We ended up creating the savory pie category on the fly at the event itself.
The Savory Pie category turned out to be a winner, though. So much so, that the 2008 Grand Prize Winner of the Pie-Off in all categories, both savory and sweet, turned out to be for the Savory Tomato Pie submitted by the talented Ms. Tricia Butler.
So, while we all know everyone is clamoring for fruit pies, cream pies, custard pies and other sweet things, savory pies are a wonderful option worth some extra baking on their own.
Standard savory pies are basically just that: pies that instead of sweet fillings contain savory ingredients such as vegetables, meats, cheeses, and yes, even eggs. Well known types include things such as chicken, beef, or turkey pot pie. The British are apt Savory Pie eaters; from steak and kidney, to Beef and Guiness, to Pork Pie, British pies send to be meaty to the core. Yet, there is one British pie I do adore: Curry Pie. Based on the British Indian/Aglo cooking tradition, curry pie adds just a little something extra to the traditional British meat pie.
There are wonderful, and sometimes not-so-wonderful savory pies from other cultures as well. Seal-Flipper Pie found in Newfoundland, Canada was probably a tradition made more out of necessity than culinary elegance. Caribbean green fig and salt fish pie, is really salt-cod and green bananas all spiced up w/ Scotch Bonnet Peppers and baked with tangy cheddar cheese (hey, don’t knock it until you’ve…). The Italians too, love savory pies, although theirs tend to focus on ricotta, chard, zucchini and all other manner of vegetables. Even the U.S. has regional savory pies: In Louisiana, one can find Cajun Shrimp and Crab Pies, while Alaska with it’s “I can see Russia from my house” proximity, has created their own fusion Russian/Alaskan Salmon Pirok (pie).
Is Quiche, pie? This question was fiercely debated within the Portland Pie Commission, with one Commissioner saying, “Yes, Quiche is just an egg and cream custard pie,” While another said, “No! Quiche is Quiche!” A compromise of sorts was reached. Yes, the Pie Commission agrees that quiche is savory pie, but we hereby refer to it, not as quiche, but as FREEDOM PIE at the Portland Pie-Off. You’ve been warned.
There are however, lesser known, but no less wonderful savory pies. These can be a delight to make and a delight to eat. Examples include:
Spinach Pie with Feta
Caramelized Onion Pie with Bacon
Vegetarian Sausage and Vegetable pie
Ratatouille Pie
Italian Sausage Pie (like a pizza pie, get it? Pizza Pie!)
Cheeseburger Pie
Enchilada Pie
The list goes on and on…
Can’t wait to see what Savory Pies you all come up with this year!
