Pie Advice From 1912

Olive M. Hulse gave some great advice all throughout her book, Desserts. My 1912 edition features thick pages with print struck heavy onto the pages so that the stamped text is just slightly readable on the opposite side.

Her one piece of pie advice stuck out with me – a soggy pie dulls the brain.

Olive M. Hulse’s Pie Making Advice

Pies, it is supposed, had their origin in the fourteenth century. They have come into worldwide favor as a dessert since that time, and New England housewives are so partial to them that they offer them for breakfast.

The first fresh fruit pies of the season have a flavor different from and more delicious than those made of older fruits, and are therefore hailed with delight in every family that knows them.

Pie crust should be light and flaky; it is then a delight to the epicure and has no terrors for the dyspeptic. Some cooks still cling to the old-fashioned method of making pies with large quantities of doughy pasty. This is to be regretted, for soggy pies are not only hard to digest, but dull the brain and leave the body sluggish.

A pie properly made, well baked, and offered while fresh, may rightly complete any luncheon or dinner the earlier courses of which are somewhat light.