Bacon-Apple Pie: I’m At A Loss for Words!
They say one can’t taste a dish through a picture. Conversely, they say a picture is worth a thousand words. This is one picture that left me speechless and drooling. As Nancy Rommelmann said, “It makes you wonder: why in the world haven’t we ALWAYS eaten this?” I give you, Bacon Apple Pie by Jenn Louis of Lincoln Restaurant and Culinary Artistry. I’m told it tastes as good as it looks.
Here’s the update: Jenn Louis tells me they hope to have it on the menu, probably starting on Thursday. It will be a dessert for two, a la mode. In answer to one of the comments below, Jenn says,
“And, to answer the question from one of your readers, yes, the cutting can be challenging on a whole pie. But, really, who cares? Bacon and apples? The pie for 2 will be in its own dish and the guest will cut it, so it will be real pretty when it gets to the table.”
The Food Dude will throw himself on the grenade one more time just to save you (in case it’s not good.) I’ll visit as soon as they have them, and report back in full.
In Progress
Lovely Lattice Added
Bacon Apple Pie
Here’s the recipe:
Makes one 9-inch pie
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface
1 recipe Pate Sucre, see below
3 pounds crisp red apples: rome, braeburn, gala
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1# bacon, sliced
On a lightly floured work surface, roll out one pate sucree disc into a 13-inch round about 1/8 inch thick. Fit dough into a 9-inch pie plate. With a sharp paring knife, trim dough about ¾ inch over the rim. Turn rim of pie dough under to form a runstic crust. Freeze again until firm, at least 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
In a large bowl, toss the apples with the lemon juice, granulated sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Remove pie shell from freezer, and fill with apple mixture. Dot with butter.
Arrange the strips of bacon over the top of the piecrust in a lattice, then fold the edges of the pie crust over the bacon and crimp.
Bake for about an hour, until the bacon on top is nicely crisp, the crust is browned and a knife pushes easily into an apple slice. This should be about an hour.
Every apple has a different water content and will react to cooking differently. So, just pierce with a knife to make sure the apples are soft and the bacon is crisp!
Pate Sucree
1 large egg yolks
2T ice water
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
Salt
4 ounces (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
Lightly beat yolks and water in a small bowl until combined.
Pulse flour, sugar, and a pinch of salt in a food processor until combined. Add butter, and process until mixture resembles coarse meal, about 20 seconds. With the machine running, add yolk mixture in a slow, steady stream. Process until mixture just begins to hold together (no longer than 30 seconds).
Shape dough into 1 disk, and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate until firm, 30 minutes to overnight.
(Those of you who know me, realize that I couldn’t slither if my life depended on it. Instead I do something more like rolling; faster and faster as the momentum of my stomach increases. To be honest, Jenn at Lincoln gave me the recipe.)
If this seems like too much work, roll down to Random Order (or Lincoln for a bacon version – they will have them this weekend), and get your pie on. I tried one at Lincoln, and it was pretty damn good.
Food DudeComments
31 Responses to “Bacon-Apple Pie: I’m At A Loss for Words!”Leave a Reply
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YUM!
OMG! I can’t believe they’re not open tonight!
I want to give this a try, but I can’t find any reference to it on Lincoln’s website, or either of the blogs cited.
Twitter: pdxfooddude
says:
Oops. I failed to make clear that this was apparently a pie served at her private thanksgiving dinner, and I don’t believe it is available at the restaurant. It doesn’t seem like something that would hold very well for restaurant service.
Wow! I’m thinking that this might be kind of tough to eat, though. You’d probably need a knife to get through the lattice.
I’d love to try it with the bacon cut up into little pieces and mixed in with the apples.
A nice, evenly cooked bacon lattice is the food equivalent of a rainbow or Natalie Portman.
This is going to be on the channel 8 news tonight (Monday) at 11:00.
Am I the only one who finds this completely unappetizing?
I like bacon just as much as the next fellow, but this is absurd as far as I’m concerned.
Don’t get me wrong though, if it floats your boat…
I saw this and had to give it a shout out on KGW’s Live @ 7 tonight. Video is here: http://www.kgw.com/video/thesquare-index.html?nvid=309127
(Yes, it’s in the Weird segment, but only because we don’t have a S*** we Really Need to Try segment.)
The newsroom really did go nuts over it, and FWIW, I’m in the camp that thinks it’s the greatest thing ever, and I’m going to attempt one tonight for the newsroom potluck tomorrow. I’m trying to figure out whether the pie is par-baked before the lattice goes on, or if the bacon goes in the oven for 45 minutes.
Synchronicity lives; I was just pointed yesterday at a possibly even more dangerously seductive recipe:
baconed yams. (Nathan probably does not want to go here. The rest of the gallery, however….)
Although don’t find the idea of bacon and apples unappetizing, based on the photos, the raw bacon cooks off at the same time as the pie, which means that rendered bacon fat is soaking into the pie as it cooks; this I do find unappetizing. As another poster mentioned, mixing cooked bacon in with the apples prior to baking sounds considerably better. I might also add that a nice slice of sharp cheddar on top would really sell it!
Twitter: pdxfooddude
says:
Hmm… I was going to do some upgrading on the site tonight, but traffic has jumped so high, I think I’ll put it off for another night. ;>)
Because I’m such a trooper, I volunteer to stop by Lincoln, eat dinner, and have the pie. I have to think of the right wine, of course.
Perhaps some Bacon Hollow Revenuers’ Select White Wine
Check it out at: https://www.vinoshipper.com/wine/863
Cheers!
Twitter: pdxfooddude
says:
weknowpinot, you made me laugh. Thanks!
Fat man’s Nirvana!
No thanks – that look nasty.
Poor pig that gave its life for that.
Oh man!
Dessert for after my Reggie Deluxe at Pine State!!!
Everything IS better with bacon!
Twitter: wineguyworld
says:
“Poor pig that gave its life for that”? Are you kidding me?? If more pigs knew they would serve such a noble cause, they’d be lining up at the slaughterhouse. I think it is the pig equivalent of Islamists thinking they’re getting 99 virgins. I can see it now: “Give your life for this, dear pigs, and we will make 99 delicious pies from your martyred bodies!”
One word: YUM!! Four more for FD: “Take me with you!!”
oh my gawd. i want me one.
What if the lattice was pre cooked, perhaps in a roasting pan in the oven. That would pull the oil content of the pie down to acceptable tolerances, insure both sides of the bacon were cooked, while still allowing you to mix the crunchy bacon goodness with apple cinnamon nirvana.
mmmmmmmmm.
I don’t know about dessert, but this is definitely my kind of breakfast!!
I’m sure Jenn figured this out long before I did, but there’s no pre-cooking or par-baking needed. A lattice of thick-cut bacon cooks perfectly along with the pie for about 75-80 minutes at 375 degrees. You do need to plan for quite a bit of shrinkage, so don’t trim the bacon as you lay it down.
The bacon fat did make the pie filling a bit more liquid than I’d expected — next time I won’t drizzle any remaining liquid from the bowl into the pie. It wasn’t overly runny once it cooled, though, and the bacon drippings end up giving the apples an amazing creamy texture that’s unlike any apple pie you’ve ever had.
I made this last night, using the Betty Crocker recipe circa 1978, 50 minutes at 425F. The bacon came out a little overly browned, but was still quite tasty. Sure, the bacon adds quite a bit of fat, but come on, any time you bake a normal apple pie, you always dot it with butter before putting that top crust on (don’t you? You should!). I trimmed my bacon so it overhung the dish by about 1/4 inch and then tucked the ends between the crust and apples, and didn’t experience any noticable shrinkage. It is somewhat difficult to cut the bacon, so I think next time I try this (there will be a next time), I’ll do a mock lattice, cutting shorter lengths of bacon and arranging them to look weaved, instead of actually weaving full strips, that should solve that problem. I didn’t find mine overly liquidy, but then, I like a somewhat gooey pie. My particular recipe does call for 1/4 cup flour in with the apples, so that amount of thickener likely helped the liquid situation, as well.
yummy, its like eating a roll, baco and fruit together- looks tasty
@Jenn: thanks so much for following up with some cooking tips. I can’t wait to give this a try, either at the restaurant or at home.
Redefines the whole concept of Pie for breakfast!
Twitter: pdxfooddude
says:
Ok, I went to Lincoln and tried the pie.
1. It comes in a two person serving; a fairly big dish with a large scoop of ice cream on top.
2. My reaction after the first few bites, was “wow, this is good”
3. Half way through, I was thinking, yes, it is interesting, but I don’t think I’d order it again.
4. The problem is, it’s just too heavy, especially after just finishing a large dinner.
5. All in all, I enjoyed the pie and am glad I ordered it, but I don’t know if I would want it more than once a year.
I think they are going to have it available on Friday & Saturday nights until it runs out.
Sounds to me like the only problem is that it’s being served as a dessert. That looks kinda breakfasty to me right there. And awesome in so many ways.
Ice cream might be a bit much, but then, I don’t often like ice cream on pie anyway.
Twitter: pdxfooddude
says:
Actually, the maple ice cream is absolutely necessary. The dairy does something to cut the fat, and of course the combo of maple/bacon/apple is a winner!
This is an obvious combination that has been around for years. For ideas on how to make one yourself, check out some of these sites:
http://eclecticgecko.com/blog/?p=5
http://elicooks.wordpress.com/2008/10/09/bacon-really-does-make-everything-better/
just add some cheddar cheese, please…
sharp cheddar melted over apple pie (with or without the bacon) = heavenly