Chefs Get Nostalgic for Pie

Whether it's the first slice of spiced pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving or a disastrous first attempt at a crust, everyone has wonderfully sappy pie memory. Here, three chefs share their favorites.

April Bloomfield's favorite treat in the world was shepherd’s pie. “Especially at school,” she says. “When I was doing home economics. When everyone else was making chocolate Rice Krispies Treats, I was having a go at shepherd’s pie."

Chef Rich Torrisi, of New York’s Torrisi Italian Specialties and Carbone, always loved his grandmother’s salami pie. “She made it once a year, around Easter,” he says. “I wouldn’t want to eat it right now, but back then it was a special item. Just by watching her make the crust and the rest of the pie—sometimes it would take her all day—I developed a deep connection to food.”

The Catbird Seat’s Erik Anderson’s recalls one of his mother’s pie fails. “Sunday dinners were always big around my house,” he says. “You’d always eat whatever my mother put down on the table. Once she made taco pie, and it was one of the most disgusting things ever. She took two bites and said, ‘OK, we don’t have to eat this.’”

Related: Savory Pies and Tarts
New Ways to Eat Pies
Expert Pie-Making Tips