GREEN APPLE PIE GOOD NO MATTER WHERE IT’S BAKED
(Country Weekly)
When cowboys were out on cattle drives the camp cook didn’t have time to fix fancy meals. His offered the cowboy a basic meat and potato diet and if they didn’t like it they could go out and shoot their own and prepare it.
The cooks found out right away that cowboys also had a sweet tooth so the range chefs learned to prepare pies in Dutch ovens that would rival any recipe baked in the fanciest of ovens available for homes or restaurants today.
Dennis Chapin doesn’t go on long cattle drives but he has perfected a recipe for Green Apple Pie that he makes in the traditional cow camp style when he’s out working with the Lonestar Cattle Company out of Douglasville, Texas.
“We do all kinds of events – family reunions, company picnics – if the road goes that way we’ll go,” Dennis says.
Chapin has the look of the traditional cowboy but he’s a cabinet maker by trade. On weekends and when other occasions arise, he cooks for the cattle company, something he’s been doing for the past ten years.
“I apprenticed with Bo Daniels who is a master wagon builder and cook,” Dennis explains “He wanted to share his knowledge with someone and he chose me. He was a great teacher.”
The apple pie that Chapin was cooking during Michael Martin Murphey’s Pineywoods Cowboy Gathering was a popular menu item. He could hardly keep enough of them made to fill the requests. It could have had something to do with the delicious smell of cinnamon and nutmeg that wafted from the cow camp setup into the crowd as the pies cooked under the coals.
The menu during the weekend consisted of cowboy beans, potatoes with onions and peppers, steak, biscuits and cornbread. If there was room folks topped the meal off with the pie – and they everyone seemed to find plenty of room for the mouth-watering dessert.
Dennis peels the apples and cuts them into small pieces, seasoning them with spices and sweetening with honey instead of sugar. He carefully pours them into a pie shell, covers them with a second one and places the pie pan carefully into a the Dutch oven.
Green Apple Pie
3 large apples, cubed (or enough to fill your pie pan)
Cinnamon and nutmeg to taste (approx 1 teaspoon each)
Pinch of salt
Honey – enough coat pieces of apple
Deep dish pie shell for a two-crust pie
Cut up the apples into cubes. Drizzle honey over them and stir until all the pieces are coated. Add cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Mix together well. Cover and place in refrigerator overnight.
Next Day
Remove apples from refrigerator. Make pie crust or use prepared crust. Pour apples into pie shell, making sure to include the liquid that has gathered overnight. Place a second crust on top of the apples. Pinch edges to make sure they are tight with no space for leaking juice. Cut a few slashes in the top of the crust to let air escape. Bake at 300 degrees for approximately 15-20 minutes, or until the top of the pie is golden brown. Remove, cool slightly and serve with ice cream or whipped cream. Dennis recommends Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla ice cream, a Texas-made treat.
The oven then is placed in a hot bed of coals and more coals are shoveled on top of it. They are red hot and the pie bakes quickly, with the crust turning a nice golden brown as the apples soak up the spices for a tasty finish to a great meal.
“You can cook this pie in a regular oven and it turns out just as good,” Dennis says.
He’s right, the pie turns out great in a conventional oven in your home. You just don’t get the atmosphere of being surrounded by chuckwagons, cowboys and great music when you cook it that way!
CLIP
