50 PIES, 50 STATES
An Immigrant's Love Letter to the United States Through Pie
A love letter written in pie crust to every state in the union—a delicious portrait of the country with more than 50 recipes for extraordinary pies that taste just like home.
There's nothing quite so American as a slice of pie. That's what I learned growing up in Singapore and Hong Kong, watching movies set in the United States and dreaming about taking a road trip from coast to coast, stopping at diners along the way. After college in Savannah and a decade as a fashion designer, I turned my passion for home baking into an ode to my chosen home: honoring the people, places, and flavors that made me love this country with a pie for each state.
Each pie I hope you find is an impressive, whimsical tribute that encapsulates a state's unique flavors and honors its culture.
· For South Dakota, I researched Indigenous ingredients with a chef from the Sioux nation to create her Wild Rice Pudding Pie.
· For Illinois, a Deep Dish Pumpkin Pie.
· For Nevada, I brought a Las Vegas all-you-can-eat-buffet into eight extraordinary savory and sweet slices.
And there are plenty of crowd pleasers, such as:
· Kentucky's Derby Pie with Blackberry Sauce
· Mississippi Mud Pie
· Idaho’s Mashed Potato Pie with Hash Brown Crust and Scallop Potato Topping
· Georgia's Sweet Tea Peach Pie with Pecan Crumble
· North Dakota’s Tater Tot Hot Dish Pie
With bonus pies that honor my trajectory from Southeast Asia to my Brooklyn home, like:
· A Pandan Custard Pie for my birthplace of Singapore
· A Kope Jahe Pie in honor of my childhood in Indonesia
· A Honey Peach Pie for my time at the Savannah College of Art and Design
· And a Bagel Order Pie to celebrate my new forever New York City home
Every pie is an opportunity to celebrate–or defend your home state's honor. Bake your way through this book and you'll taste the full range of flavors that America has to offer.
The recipes are organized like the all-American roadtrip everyone has wanted to complete, this book is a journey through the wonders of pie for bakers of all skill levels–and the story of how I chose to make this place my home.