5th Annual Pieathalon | Do prunes and rice really go together in a pie?

Having penned a few cookbooks, hosted his own cooking show and demonstrated how to cook fish in a dishwasher, Vincent Price was the original foodie. And he did so love pie! So, I thought I'd follow in his footsteps and participate in this Pieathalon challenge, which is now in its fifth year.

Basically, what I had to do was choose a recipe from a pre-1990's cookbook, which would then be assigned to another pieathlete, while I would be given my own challenge.

Obviously, I had to choose something of Vincent's, so I scoured through his cookbooks and found one that sounded rather exotic: a Pineapple Meringue Pie that was served up at Hana-Maui hotel and was included in Vincent and Mary Price's acclaimed 1965 tome A Treasury of Great Recipes.

And what did I get? Well, it was really hoping for something savoury as I don't have a sweet tooth, but I ended up with another meringue-based recipe called Puddin 'n Pie from Rice Recipes Old and New Presented by Comet Rice. Poppy sent me the entire pamphlet: which you can view here: Michigan State University Libraries - Little Cookbooks: The Alan and Shirley Brocker Sliker Culinary Collection.

Prunes and rice seem an odd combination to me, but I was determined to give it a go. This was quite easy to pull together and thankfully the recipe asked for a pie shell rather ask that I make the pastry from scratch. Once I had put all the wet ingredients together (and it was rather wet looking) I realise I had enough for two pies. As I had bought one sweet and one savoury, I was sorted, and it was going to be interesting to see which one tasted better.

They both baked nicely and the texture of the filling firmed up (so no soggy bottoms, yeah!). Then came time for the meringue. Now the quantity of sugar threw me a bit, so I opted to use a gluten free sugar alternative, raw organic crystallised coconut blossom nectar, in the filling and for the meringue. Big mistake! The meringue just didn't firm up at all... so I had to suck it up and use proper white caster sugar. Bingo! Lovely peaks.

It was all back in the oven for a futher 25-minutes and then time to have a slice. I must admit my meringue layering technique needs improving, but the pie actually tasted rather good. You couldn't really taste the prune, but it has a great nutty flavour (thanks to the chopped nuts).

Once the pies had cooled down, I covered them with foil and put them in the fridge for the next day to have for morning tea. The foil was not a good idea as it pulled off all the lovely meringue. And as I didn't label them, I didn't know which was the savoury and which was the sweet. But it didn't matter. They are both delicious and remind me more of a fruit and nut slice than a traditional pie. But I shall certainly try it again. Thanks Poppy! And thanks Emily for inviting me to be a pieathlete. Now, if you want to check out how Vincent's Pineapple Meringue Pie did, check out the post here from Retro Food for Modern Times?

To look at the other pie contributions, please take a look at the blogs below:

• Apricot Meringue Pie by Eliot’s Eats
• Aloha Meringue Pie by The Unofficial Mad Men Cookbook
• Chocolate Mousse Pie by Kelli’s Kitchen
• Cool Mint Cookie Pie by The Book of Cookrye
• Dutch Peaches and Cream Pie by Vintage Recipe Cards
• Frosty Vanilla Pie by The Battenburg Belle
• Kate’s Pie by Dinner is Served 1972
• Lemon Beer Sponge Pie by Homicidal Homemaker
• Marguerite Patten’s Cheese Pie by Velveteen Lounge Kitsch-en
• Mock Pecan Pie by MyCustardPie.com
• Olde English Eggnog Pie by HeritageRecipeBox.com
• Peaches and Cream Tart by Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• French Rasberry Tart by Tortillas and Honey
• Ritz Cracker Mock Apple Pie by Dr. Bobb’s Kitschen
• Seafoam Cantaloupe Pie by Recipes4Rebels
• Strawberry Ginger Pie by Granny Pantries
• Sweet Onion Pie by Silver Screen Suppers – The Wonderful World of Film Star Eating and Drinking
• Tansey by The Nostalgic Cook
• The Millionaire by Once Upon a Salad
• Tyler Pie by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Vincent Price Pineapple Meringue by Retro Food for Modern Times
• Weight Watchers “Almost a Pie” by BookClub CookBook
• Yul Brynner’s Walnut Pie by Vintage Cookbookery

Embrace the Price family legacy with this fantastic Holiday Book Offer!

In her upcoming inspirational memoir, The Way of Being Lost: A Road Trip to My Truest Self (which will be released in February 2018), Victoria Price shares childhood stories of time on the road with her parents, Mary and Vincent Price. These road trips together also inspired three famous cookbooks. In celebration of Victoria’s new book and the Price family legacy, Dover have a fantastic holiday promotion.

• Pre-order The Way of Being Lost by Victoria Price and you’ll receive a 20% discount code to use to buy A Treasury of Great Recipes, Come into the Kitchen Cook Book and the new reprint of Cooking Price-Wise (out now in the US and in the UK). All ordered cookbooks will signed by Victoria  and these will be the only ones to be signed this holiday season. (This offer is good for US and all international orders.)

• Victoria will also send you free gift— a full-color PDF containing photos and excerpts from an unpublished essay by Vincent and Victoria from 1993.

Plus, you'll be entered to win a Grand Prize of four signed books — A Treasury of Great Recipes, Come into the Kitchen Cook Book, Cooking Price-Wise, and The Way of Being Lost — as well as an original photograph, Blue is the Color of Distance, from Victoria’s recent art show. Total prize value US$475.

The offer and contest start today -- and will end at midnight on 12 December, 2017. For more information, just follow this link: http://www.doverpublications.com/thewayofbeinglost

Join an exclusive dinner in honour of Vincent Price and the James Beard Foundation in New York this October

The Vincent Price Family Legacy has just announced the first of a series of exciting events that fans won’t want to miss out on. On October 30 2014, Chef Francesco Palmieri of the Orange Squirrel Restaurant and Victoria Price (Vincent’s daughter) will be hosting a dinner at the prestigious James Beard House in New York City to benefit the James Beard Foundation. It will be a meal featuring recipes from the Vincent and Mary Price cookbook, A Treasury of Great Recipes, paired with wines from the all-new Vincent Price Signature Wine Collection. 

Seating is limited, so if you are interested in attending, sign up today through this link: http://www.jamesbeard.org/events/vincent-price-legendary-gourmet

The full dinner and wine menu is listed on the site.

And if you can’t make it to New York on October 30, don’t fret as other Vincent Price wine dinners will be popping up in other US cities soon, and hopefuly London in the UK next year. If you know of a restaurant or organisation in your city that would like to host a wine dinner, please send your suggestions as soon as possible. Just leave a comment here or email the Vincent Price Family Legacy directly at vincentprice.com.

 

A Treasury of Great Recipes - 50th Anniversary | Antoine's of New Orleans

Victoria Price's culinary road trip has taken her to Antoine's, the oldest French-Creole fine dining restaurant in New Orleans, which her father visited 50 years ago and where, in 1894, Vincent's parents dined on their honeymoon.

Here's a shot of Victoria standing outside the same wine cellar that her father surveyed when he was researching his and wife Mary's A Treasury of Great Recipes cookbook, which will be reprinted in 2015.

Read more about Victoria's culinary road trip by clicking here.

And if you want to know more about Antoine's, check out their website (click here).

A Treasury of Great Recipes - 50th Anniversary | Victoria Price takes a culinary road trip in memory of her parent's legendary cookbook

Next year marks the release of the 50th anniversary edition of Mary and Vincent Price's cookbook A Treasury of Great Recipes - now regarded as 'one of the most important culinary events of the 20th century' (Saveur Magazine).

To mark the occasion the Price's daughter, Victoria, has set up a new website, Cooking With Vincent, to honour her parent's love of food, as well as a road trip blog where she chronicles her journey back in time, revisiting many of the restaurants in the original book. 

''To me, A Treasury of Great Recipes is the embodiment of my parents' life philosophy. They were collectors of experience--of seeing art, meeting people, trying new foods, learning about new cultures, exploring design--and then incorporating the things they loved into the way they lived. The cookbook came about because they loved what they saw so much out in the world that they brought it home to share with their friends: Recipes given to them by a chef at a restaurant they loved, a set of plates brought home to remind them of a foreign country, stories of their incredible adventures, and of course the art. But mostly what they brought home was a repository of joy from which everyone who knew them could partake. Travel always re-whetted their immense appetite for life. And I am so grateful to have the opportunity this month to do the same for my own--and hopefully yours. If I hope to do anything by releasing the 50th anniversary edition of their cookbook, it is to remind us all--myself included--to make time for joy. I hope you will follow me on my adventures on the road this month, and write in to share some of your own that have been inspired by my parents and their wonderful cookbook.' Victoria Price.

You can explore the Cooking With Vincent website by clicking here, and follow Victoria's amazing culinary road trip blog by clicking here, which kicks off off in Texas.