Mom of All Trades: 2015 State Fair Round Three Update

Saturday August 15th was Pie Day. The final weekend of turning in items for "regular" fair judging, as opposed to the "special" sponsored contests that are open judged.

I had entered two pie categories - blueberry and strawberry. Also due in Saturday was the pie for the Gold Medal "Best Pie" Contest. This contest would have open judging on the Main Stage at noon. All the pies were due in between 7:30 am and 11:30 am.

I debated whether to make a strawberry pie at all. Initially when I had registered in June, I thought I was going to make a strawberry pie for the Strawberry Contest at the Johnson County Fair. When it turned out though that there wasn't a pie category I didn't pursue making one. I had made a couple practice strawberry pies before the county fair but none of them had turned out well.

I didn't know what I was going to do for Gold Medal either. It's another anything goes contest. Any kind of original pie. All it has to have is Gold Medal flour in it. Same judging criteria as the cookie contest: 40% Taste and Flavor, 20% Texture, 40% Appearance and Presentation.

The blueberry pie was a no-brainer. The same Blueberry Crumble Pie I always make. I could make it in my sleep. Thursday morning I decided to go ahead and enter a strawberry pie. G was entering an apple pie. I had to get apples for her. I perused interesting pie recipes and found a pumpkin pie with a praline topping. I liked the praline topping idea. I decided to make an apple date pie with a walnut praline topping as my original pie for Gold Medal. I'd use my Dutch Apple Pie recipe but substitute dates for some of the apples and then cover it with the walnut praline topping.

Thursday morning I went shopping before work so I could get started on my pies right away on Friday.

all set for the morning

Friday morning I made the apple date pie as soon as the kids left for school. The pie is made first, cooled, and then the praline topping is poured over the top and you put the whole thing back under the broiler to "cook" the praline.

The pie came out BEAUTIFUL! I almost didn't want to cover it with the praline it looked so good. Next up was the blueberry pie. It came out of the oven at 2pm. It is blind baked in a paper bag just like my apple date pie. I knew there was a problem when I went to pull the bag out and it felt lopsided. Uh oh...

I've always felt like cutting the paper bag open after it's come out of the oven is kind of like looking at your baby for the first time. What will it look like? This time I cut the bag open and there was pie filling and topping that had all overflowed and fallen out on the left side. This had never happened before. Why is it that I can never have a fair baking day that goes smoothly this year!!!

Cosmetically, this pie was not going to fly. I went to Meijer AGAIN to buy more blueberries. I made it home just as the kids got home. They wanted to eat my mess up pie. I had cleaned up the edges as best I could by then because I thought I'd keep this pie until the second blueberry pie was done in case something MORE catastrophic happened to it. As my luck was going, I figured you never know! Well, the kids really wanted the pie. I gave in and let them have it.

Mom, this pie is really sour. What?!! I tasted the pie. It made my mouth pucker. Then I tasted one of the blueberries I had just bought. It made my mouth pucker too. Ugh. ALL the blueberries were sour. Now what?!! I had bought blueberries in June when they were $0.99 a pint and frozen to use in the winter. I knew those were sweet. Guess I'll have to use those.

Second blueberry pie had to be put on hold though because G needed the kitchen to make her apple pie. She was going to a sleep over birthday party that night and had to make her pie before she left. By the time I took her to her party and got back, it was 7 pm. Second blueberry pie was made without incident. I added some extra cornstarch to it because I'd never made it with frozen berries before and I was afraid it would be runnier.

Blueberry Crumble Pie

Now for the strawberry pie. It was a two crust pie. Remember, I can't make a rolled pie crust. All of my pies are single crust pies with a press-in crust. I figured though that it was time to learn how to make a rolled crust. The Fair has taught me a lot of things. I learned how to make yeast breads. I learned how to make fudge, caramels, and toffees. Time to try and conquer a pie crust.

I made the crust as instructed and put it in the refrigerator to chill. Then I got out the strawberries to make the filling. I remember glancing over at the box of strawberries earlier and seeing a huge empty gap at the top of the boxes and had wondered whether the kids had snuck some berries. Now when I looked at them I saw that there was red liquid pooling through the bottom of the container and the berries themselves had "sank" in the container. They looked mushy. Not the beautiful berries I saw yesterday. There was also a fine cloud of mold? on top of the berries. I went to pick one up and when I touched it, the whole thing just disintegrated. I mean it just liquefied! It was like something out of a sci-fi horror movie where the alien creature liquefies a person from the inside out and they turn into a puddle. OMG! REALLY?

I went to Marsh at 9 am to buy more strawberries.

So... I made a strawberry pie recipe I'd never made before. I made a pie crust recipe I'd never made before. This is how it turned out...

Fresh Strawberry Pie

I had a crust protector around the edges but one edge still came out looking burnt. The middle sank after it cooled and the filling looked a bit runny but it was done.

Final thing I did was make the walnut praline topping for my beautiful Apple Date pie. After covering it, I couldn't decide if I liked it or not. It either looked tasty, or it looked like someone had thrown up on top of the pie. I couldn't decide.

Apple Date Praline Pie

I got done just after midnight. Woohoo! I relatively early "night before turn in" for me.

I got up early on Saturday though because I needed to drop all the pies off at 7:30 am. G had spent the night with her friends but she wanted to go to the Fair the next day and see the Ultimate Macaroni and Cheese Contest that was at 1 pm. Usually on Pie Day we go to the Fair early - like 9 or 10 am - because it's always crazy busy on Saturdays and I always have a lot of anxiety about getting into the fairgrounds on time. We turn in our pies and then end up just killing a couple hours before the open pie judging at noon, then kill a couple more hours until the other pie results are put up in the afternoon.

This Saturday though, since G spent the night out, I turned the pies in first thing and came back home. I picked G up later in the morning then left our house at 10:30 am to get there for the 12:00 judging.

12:00. We're still sitting out in traffic on 38th Street in front of the fairgrounds. Good thing I dropped off the pies earlier! I finally got to the Home and Family Arts building at 12:38. There was one extension judge judging on the stage. I sat down next to Rebecca and tried to catch up. I found out that my Apple Date Praline pie had actually been the first pie judged that day. Rebecca thought the judge had liked the pie because she had gone back for a second bite.

Five minutes after I got there, the second extension judge arrived. She too had been stuck in traffic trying to get into the fairgrounds. She helped judge the last couple pies and then both judges disappeared behind the curtain. They were gone forever. I figured the late judge was tasting more pies.

G had already gone over to see the Ultimate Mac and Cheese Contest with some friends. She texts me at 1:20. Where are you? Still here. Waiting. They finally announce the winners. Gold Medal offered First through Third Place and an Honorable Mention. The judges had a hard time deciding so they offered two more unofficial honorable mentions.

The two "unofficial" Honorable Mentions went to Fancheon and Beverly.

Rita got the official Honorable Mention.

Mary Alice got Third.

Rita's mom Phyllis got Second.

And... someone we (as in, the regulars) didn't know got First.

All the winners went up to get their awards except Fancheon. Fancheon was no where to be found. Where did she go? I wanted to talk to her.

I ran over to find G after that. The Ultimate Mac and Cheese Recipe Contest was in full swing over in the Ag/Hort Building. There were nine competitors cooking their macaroni and cheese recipes in front of a live audience... and there was Fancheon, cooking on stage. She waved at me. I waved back. She started mouthing things to me but I couldn't figure out what she was saying.

The competitors then had their dishes presented to the three judges - a representative from the American Dairy Association that was sponsoring the contest, a professional chef, and a food writer from the Indy Star. While they were judging Fancheon and I caught up. I really look forward to seeing Fancheon every year. She was the one that first introduced herself and made me feel welcome the first year I entered the State Fair. She is an amazing cook and baker. She's been coming to the State Fair probably longer than I've been alive. She is the same age as my father. I love seeing her every year. She wanted to know what happened at the pie contest so I filled her in on what I could, then we caught up on life in general. She doesn't do any regular fair entries anymore but does the special competitions and does really well in them. She told me she won the Family Heirloom Recipe Competition on Thursday with a Green Tomato Mincemeat Pie. I don't come from a family of bakers or cooks so I didn't have a recipe to enter in that competition. She also told me she helped judge the yeast breads and rolls this year. During the first turn in weekend (that ran from Friday to Sunday), all the breads, cookies, and candy were judged on Monday. Finding that out, I'm glad I turned my food in on Sunday rather than Friday!

Me (in pink) and Fancheon (in cow apron) waiting for the judges

photo from IndyStar.com

Then it was time to announce the Mac and Cheese winners. Fancheon didn't place but after they announced the winners they wanted all the contestants to come back in front of the stage to serve their mac and cheese dishes to the audience. She says, "Watch my stuff," and leaves. Unhh... I wanted some mac and cheese too. I made G go get me some samples.

The winner's dish was called Decadent Macaroni and Cheese (recipe HERE) and it was decadent! It was hands down the rightful winner. Third place was Smokey BLT Mac and Cheese (recipe HERE). That was my second favorite dish. Yes, I ended up getting to sample all of them. Links to all nine recipes are HERE.

G and I got some real food after that and I bought some Bourbon Maple Syrup from Burton's Maplewood Farms to use in their Maple Syrup Contest on Monday. Then we walked back over to Home and Family Arts to see if the rest of the (closed) pie judging was done. It was.