Secret Ingredient

Last night around 9:00 PM, my husband asked if we had enough apples to bake an apple pie.  I looked at him and said, "Really?!"  He looked at me and his eyes got big and he said it would be so good with some of the homemade peach ice cream I had made the day before!  He looked like a little kid who just found out there is a new toy out that he has to have!  So we looked and we had three apples.  He peeled and sliced the apples while I made the crust.  It was a small pie!

Now, I'm not delusional when I say I've yet to find "THE" recipe for a good pie crust and I've tried my share!  I've tried one that uses butter,  and another that uses a mixture of butter and shortening but they were just okay.  My Nanny, that's what I called my grandma, made a killer pie crust and never used a recipe that was written down.  So, after she passed away, I began my search.  Many years later, like last night, voila!  I figured it out.

While growing up, I was constantly at my grandparents house and wondered why my Nanny always had a huge container of shortening under the cabinet.  To my knowledge, my Nanny never used a recipe for anything she made so unless you saw her cooking, the uses for shortening were beyond me.  Now that I am wiser and married to a man from South Carolina, I know what it's for.   Hehehehe...........

When I made the pie crust last night, I didn't have enough butter to use for the crust so I substituted shortening.  What a difference!  It was the best pie crust I have ever made and was exactly like my Nanny's!  It truly is a secret ingredient and if you use vegetable shortening it can't be as bad as lard, right?  Back me up here someone....

I'm a shortening snob and only use one brand, Crisco.  I can't tell you how excited I was when I found it in Chedraui's Select in Polanco!  If you live in Mexico City, now you know where to get it!  People in the States, you have no idea how depressing it is when you can't find things you are used to having handy!

Now, on to figure out the secret fried chicken recipe that my Nanny never wrote down either!

Till next time,
Okie Girl