SF FOOD WARS: PIE OR DIE 2

Well, I did it... although sleep-deprived and noticably poorer, I made it through the SF Food Wars Pie or Die 2 Competition, and boy does it feel good!!

Here's a little recap of how it all went down...

So, I had my pie idea from the very beginning, but perfecting the recipe was a little hard.  I only actually tested my crust recipe once and my filling recipe twice - for two reasons - 1. ingredients are EXPENSIVE and 2. as it turns out, pie making takes a lot of time.

Week of the Competition...

I got all of my ingredients for the pie (minus the blueberries) earlier in the week, but as the week went by and I decided to make more and more pies for the event, Stephen (being the most amazing boyfriend that he is) would pick stuff up for me at work - oh, the perks of having a boyfriend who works at Whole Foods!

So, I got started on my dough Friday night after I got home from work.  Four and a half hours and enough dough for 18 pies later, I was done!!

Day before the Competition...

Saturday morning, after Stephen and I walked to the Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market to buy my blueberries,  I got started on my pies.  I completely underestimated how long it would take and even had a mini-meltdown after my oven started smoking and blueberry puree exploded out of my blender, covering the wall... I sat down on the kitchen floor and started crying.  I know, I can be a little dramatic sometimes!  After Stephen helped clean up the mess, I called my mom and both of them convinced me it was going to be ok and because I had already put in this much time and effort, I could not back out now!  So, I got back to it.  Thank god for my friend Lyndsay, who came over and helped zest and juice over 30 lemons!  I pre-baked all of the crusts, made the blueberry compote, started making filling, then filled crusts as they cooled, then back in the oven, then made more filling, then filled cooled crusts, and so on - I started to get into a routine and I felt like I was on a role, until I put my last two pie crusts in the oven to pre-bake without pie weights and completely ruined the crusts.  I went to bed around midnight, exhausted, my entire apartment covered in sugar-flour-blueberry-butter-stickiness AND a sink FULL of dishes.

Day of the Competition...

Sunday morning I got up at 6am to make extra pie dough so I could re-make the two pies I botched the night before.  I finished them with enough time to shower, pack everything up, and even make a run to Bed Bath and Beyond (talk about waiting til the last minute - I needed a display stand for my table).

As soon as we got to the event, the next few hours flew by.  We must've served over 200 pieces of pie, but still went home with 5 extra pies!!  I was a little bummed when I didn't place, but honestly, I didn't expect a vegan pie to win with so much non-vegan competition - no matter how good my pie tasted.  Bottom line, it was great experience and I am so glad I did it!!

Here's a few things I learned:

1. Quality over quantity!!  I had more than enough pie for everyone to taste (I went home with five extras, but my co-workers were pretty stoked when I brought one to work for them the next day), but my pies were a little less than perfect.  I would have rather made less pie (maybe about 14 or 15) and been able to spend more time making each one, as opposed to making so many (19!) and rushing through the process.

2. Test your recipe.. A LOT!!  I cannot stress this enough.  I signed up for this competition without having EVER made a pie crust before - yes, really!!  Like I mentioned above, I only got to test my recipe a few times, and sure enough, during and after the event, I was making all kinds of mental notes on how I could've improved the end result. 

3. Plan and prep!!  I was scrambling around days before the competition trying to get everything I needed.!  Although I thought I had it all figured out beforehand, I didn't really.  I was still coming up with ideas and changes the day before the event!  Not a good idea.

4. Have fun!!  Bottom line, just have fun with it.  Ya, its a competition, but its pie!  Although i didnt place, I had a lot of fun with it, met some great people, and got a lot of compliments on my pies!

I will be posting my pie recipe soon.  For now, check out the pics below:

Blueberries and lemons!!

Enough ingredients to make 18 pies.

Dough for 18 pies.

Pie assembly line.

Finished product.

Our table

Team #3 Sweetie Pies

Stephen made our shirts - so cute, right?

Having fun at our table!

Pie test #1

Stephen and I left Thursday night for Buffalo, NY to celebrate my Grandpa's 80th birthday party with my whole family.  However, it being only one week away from the SF Food Wars Pie or Die Contest (check out the post about the competitors - we are Team #3), I was determined to make at least one pie while I was gone.  I was able to get all of the ingredients I needed at Wegman's - quite possibly one of the best grocery stores I have ever stepped foot in (their organic/natural/vegan/vegetarian/etc. section was very impressive!).

I was able to work on my pie after the birthday bash at my Aunt's house - in other words, I had already had quite a few a few drinks.  It didn't matter though - I was determined to make this pie!  However, I made a big mistake right off the bat - I bought a tub of Earth Balance and a tub of shortening, instead of the sticks, to use for the crust.  Although I froze both, by the time I measured out the amount I needed, my fat had gotten too soft and blended into a paste in the food processor.  I had ruined the crust. 

Nevertheless, I was still set on making this damn pie!  I found a graham cracker pie crust in my aunt's pantry (which happened to be vegan), so I was still able to test my filling recipe.  The mixture I made tasted really good... I just needed it to set up nicely in the fridge.....

Well, not as nicely as I hoped - it was a little too soft.  Although it did firm up a little bit, I am either going to have to add extra corn starch, or go a different route and bake the whole pie, instead of making a chilled pie.

Ahhh, so many decisions... so little time!!

Oh, and I wasn't even able to snap a picure of the finished product because my omni relatives were so eager to try it - everyone grabbed forks and dug in!  The looks on some of my cousins' faces when I told them it was made of tofu were priceless!