With a background as a pastry chef, Lori knows a lot about baking. And since there are few things I love more than baking, I made her teach me how to make a real Canadian apple pie.
It is quite different from Swedish apple pies. Half of the fat in the recipe should be lard, half butter, but I used duck fat from Lori’s butcher shop instead of the lard. So, the pie is not vegetarian. And there should be different sized chunks of fat in the finished dough, so that the crust becomes really flaky.
I felt like a real housewife from the fiftied while doing this. I’ve seen the rolling and the cutting and the filling been done so many times in American movies and TV shows that it almost felt surreal doing it myself.
Lori showed me how to do the edges all pretty and there should be holes on the top to let the steam from the apples out. Me, being a perfectionist and all, had to make it all symmetrical and precise. It is a meticulous business, baking a real Canadian apple pie.
But then, the result was amazing. Though I say it myself. I accidentally made too much dough, so I ended up baking three pies. They didn’t last long, though. In three days, the three apple pies were eaten, almost solely between Lori, Vi and myself. And they left an emptiness in me. I could have lived on pie for atleast another week. Canadian apple pie is amazingly good.
I’m thinking that maybe I should have a welcome home party when I return, instead of the goodbye party that I had to cancel due to that damned cold. It’ll be a pie and cake party out on mom’s LUSTHUS, the sun will of course be shining and I’ll make real Canadian pancakes, real Canadian apple pie and a few other personal cake favourites. I’ve almost decided I should. So be prepared. Sometime in the middle of August, I’ll demand you to come and eat my Canadian apple pies in Skarpnäck. Don’t tell me you weren’t forewarned.
Katja Malmborg 