Decided between butter and shortening for pie crusts after a disaster at Thanksgiving

I've always used butter in my pie crusts because it tastes better, but at my sister's request last Thanksgiving I tried a shortening based recipe for her apple pie. The crust came out flaky and held its shape perfect, but the flavor was just kind of flat and greasy. My brother in law even asked if I forgot the salt. So for Christmas I went back to butter and did a half butter half shortening blend from an old Betty Crocker recipe. That was the sweet spot. The crust had the flavor from the butter and the structure from the shortening. Has anyone else played around with this mix for fruit pies?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_spencer16d agoMost Upvoted

My grandmother swore by straight lard for her pie crusts, said it was the only way to get that melt in your mouth texture. She used it for everything from apple pies to chicken pot pies, never had a complaint. One time I tried to recreate her recipe and ended up with a crust so tough you could have used it as a hockey puck. Turns out I forgot to chill the fat before cutting it in.

taraj1116d ago

Start by saying that your grandma was probably onto something with the lard, but you're right about chilling the fat being the secret. I've noticed this pattern a lot in cooking where people chase one specific ingredient (like butter) and miss the bigger trick, which is temperature and technique. @the_spencer mentioned melt in your mouth texture, and that's honestly the whole goal for any pastry, whether you use lard, butter, or the blend you landed on. It's kind of like how people think expensive olive oil makes a salad dressing better, but really it's just a good balance of acid and salt that does the job. The blend you tried is probably the smartest move because you get flavor without the crust falling apart, which is a win in my book.