We have been busy busy busy! Somehow, in the midst of a ton of October parties, Katie was able to make it to the Great State Fair of Texas as a judge for the annual Pie contest:
"It always amazes me what people show up with at the pie competition at the State Fair of Texas. I have been fortunate to be a judge in this competition for 7 or 8 years now and I have been both amazed at the talents of home cooks and shocked by what some of them think a pie should be!
To help you understand how the competition works, the pies are broken into categories, i.e.: chocolate, nut, sweet potato/pumpkin, key lime, berry etc. I think there are 12 all together. Contestants can enter as many as six pies, but only one in each category. In addition to the State Fair competition Pillsbury sponsors a contest that is judged separately. Pillsbury pies must use one Pillsbury piecrust and can be any type of pie. 2-4 judges who taste and compare, then select the top pie in their category judge each category, depending on the size. The top pies in each category are again judged to pick the “Best of Show” pie. Contestants win ribbons in their categories and get bragging rights. The winners of the Pillsbury contest get cash, a ribbon, an apron AND bragging rights; however I think the bragging rights are what counts most!
I was assigned to judge the Pillsbury pies. With 58 entries my stomach already felt sick, fortunately my partner, Billy Webb from the Park Cities Hilton, and me only had to taste half of them. People are always curious to know which pie was the best and I will get to that, some of the ones that are most memorable are the strange and weird, so I will start there because this year there were several.
First a pie should have a good name, we tried a cranberry apple pie that was good but was named “Crappple” by its maker, very unfortunate. Next a “Bacon Pie” sounds interesting, but even the salty bacon was not enough to cut the sweetness in this pie.
“Butternut squash pie” hmmm best to stick to tried and true vegetables like pumpkin and sweet potato. “Red Velvet Pie” again, better left in the original form, good for cake, bad for pie. Next a “Mock Apple Pie”, this is a pie made with all the typical ingredients of an apple pie except no apples! The apples are replaced with zucchini! I was afraid to even try it, but to be a good judge all pies must be sampled so I did; I was surprised to find it didn’t taste bad. If I had not known that it was full of zucchini I could have been fooled into thinking it was actually apple, but what I am still uncertain about is why would you do this? Are zucchinis cheaper than apples? Healthier? Or is it just a sneaky way to get kids to eat some vegetables? Who knows, but too weird to win a pie contest! The last pie is truly in the “why would you do that” category, called “I do what I want Pie”. This is a double crusted pie with a cake baked inside. Huh? It really was a cake (from a mix) inside a piecrust. I suppose the person who made it really does “do what they want” and I hope they enjoy it because we just thought it was…well…weird!
The winner of the Pillsbury contest made a delicious “Berry Custard” pie, second place was a “Mocha Me Crazy” (chocolate/coffee cream) and third went to a “German Chocolate Chess” pie, the translation on this one from cake to pie worked very well.
It is so much fun to watch the contestants as they hover around the judging area and to experience their joy when they win. It is my pleasure to participate and be a part of our great State Fair!"
The judging plate!
Friday, May 6, 2011 at 04:44PM 
