The Pie Book: Over 400 Classic Recipes

Maybe the recipes in this book are great. Maybe they're the best possible pie recipes on the planet. But there are zero pictures and zero space between recipes. It's not very inspiring or pleasing to look through at all.

I have at least a dozen books devoted to the art of baking pies. I could hardly put this one down when I received it. The pages about ingredients and crusts are remarkable. Two or three pages summarize the key points about making crusts. Some I have never read before and struck me as brilliant. In my opinion, this is a necessary pie book. The writing is clear and concise. I only wish that it had photographs.

Interesting, helpful and knowledgeable author. The 'hacks' for pie baking were fabulous. Must admit the pie recipes themselves were a little out there. In this day and age you don't often get a request for such things as a prune whip concoction. But seriously the tidbits of pie making were helpful! JA

I'm very frustrated with this book, but first:
The good:
+Blueberry Pie I with Lemon Juice & Egg Pie crust was delicious.

+No long-winded anecdotal stories, which I greatly appreciate.

The bad:
-Because of the books dimensions and weight it doesn't stay open. I know this is partly because it's new and hasn't been broken in, but I've never had a new cookbook book that I had to use a spare rolling pin and a pickle jar to keep proped open.

-THERE IS NO INDEX OR CLEAR SECTIONS FOR MAIN INGREDIENT. You have to read through the Contents, which is in MOSTLY alphabetical order, by title. But then it starts over again.

I have Pecans in my pantry and want to make a Pecan Pie. Sounds simple; go to the index and look up Pecans, look up the recipes and select one. No. Under the haphazard alphabetical order in the contents, I found: Pecan Custard Pie. Then two pages later I find: Pecan Pie- Texas Method and Pecan Pie- Soithern Method.

But wait! Theses also: Caramel Pecan Pie, Caramel Pecan Rum Pie, Date Pecan Pie, Maple Pecan Chess Pie, Pumpkin Pecan Pie, Sour Cream Pecan Pie, and White House Pecan Pie. You have to read every title and those are just the ones that list Pecan in the title. There are several titles that just say "Nut" in them.

Why is there no index? Why are they not grouped by main ingredient? Every cookbook I have ever owned with more than 20 pages has an index that provides recipes under the ingredients in the index.

This is an insanely good pie book. For everyone whinging about a lack of an index; the table of contents is the index. Alphabetical order is all you need to know to find anything here.

There's an incredible attention to detail regarding methods, techniques and ingredients. There are 30 recipes just for pie crusts including those for savoury pies (though there aren't savoury pie recipes). So many excellent ingredient specific tips and a deep appreciation for the science as well as the art of baking.

Each recipe has ingredient amounts for a single 9" pie recipe and another list for multiple pies--very handy if you are doing multiple pies for celebrations or to sell at the farmers market.

The first pie I made was the California Thompson seedless green grape pie--never have seen a pie made with these. It was so good! There are quite a few recipes with interesting ingredients. I'm so looking forward to working my way through this book (and I think my husband the pie junky is too).

My girlfriend loved it! Gave us lots of good ideas for new pies to make

good recipes

Would not buy this book again. All the recipes are very strange and odd combinations and they do not sound appealing.

The chef that is in that picture is my great great grandfather I am proud to be reality to him

Many, many recipes. But I bought it for my adult son with autism. Disappointed.