Best Blackberry Pie Ever
It’s almost August. Berries are simply bursting near Pie Cottage. The sour cherries have finished for this season. Yes, I made a few pies and pitted and froze the rest for special pies to share during the winter and spring. Who can resist the taste of summer on a cold winter’s day. The blueberries are coming on strong. And, everyday on my walks I see my favorite blackberry patches just about ready to give up their all for the Best Blackberry Pie Ever!
In late 2007, I was asked by Saveur Magazine if I might share my Blackberry Pie recipe to be included in The Saveur 10th Annual 100 that was published in February of 2008. Saveur calls that issue their “favorite foods, restaurants, drinks, people, places, and things.” So, believe you me, it was a very big deal and a great honor for me to be included.
The picture of my pie was the magazine’s centerfold…
Here’s my pie as centerfold in the Feb 2008 issue of Saveur Magazine. This picture used to be online with my recipe, but along with recently changing my original recipe, there’s a different blackberry pie picture up, too.
…AND chosen to be on the cover, too. Can you see it in the upper right hand corner? You can’t run out to the stands and get this anymore. Remember it was published in 2008. 
Here’s my Feb 2008 copy of Saveur that has my recipe for Blackberry Pie as one of “The Saveur 10th Annual 100”.
I was updating links on my website recently and clicked over to Saveur to make sure it was still there. Well, I was stunned to see, that although my name is still credited on the recipe, THEY HAVE CHANGED MY RECIPE! It’s been tweaked enough, with measurement amounts and wording, that it just isn’t the same recipe I gave them. Yes, I have contacted them but there has been no response yet. 
Liz Pearson, has since moved on as Saveur’s kitchen director, but in late 2007 she emailed these words to me after she tested my original recipe out…“I can’t get over the crust–it’s certainly the best one we’ve ever tested in the kitchen. It will also be the one I use at home from now on! It’s rare that we receive recipes that are so delicious and accurate on the first try. I can’t thank you enough, Kate!”
And you can bet that those words continue to make my day! So here it is, in the original form for you, My Best Blackberry Pie Ever!
- 2 1/2 cups plus 1/3 cup flour
- 9 tbsp.cold butter, cut into 8 pieces
- 8 tbsp. cold rendered leaf lard, cut into 8 pieces
- 1 tsp. kosher salt
- 6 cups (about 1 1/2 lbs) blackberries
- 3/4 cups plus 2 tbsp. sugar
- 2 tsp. fresh lemon juice
- A very small grating of nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp. lemon zest
- 1 egg white
- Put 2 1/2 cups flour, 8 tbsp. butter, lard, and half of the salt into a large bowl. Using your fingers, blend together until mixture resembles a coarse meal. Sprinkle 10 tbsp. ice-cold water over the mixture; stir gently with a fork until dough comes together. Halve dough; from it into 2 thick discs (my original notes to them called them "chubby" discs), each about 5" wide. Wrap disks separately in plastic wrap; refrigerate for 1 hour.
- Unwrap 1 dough disk; transfer it to a well-floured surface. Whack it with a rolling pin several times to flatten it out; turn it over and repeat. Roll out dough to form an 11" circle; transfer it to a 9" deep-dish pie pan. (If dough tears and needs mending, dab a little water where it requires patching and "glue" on a piece of dough.) Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.
- Arrange a baking sheet on lower rack of oven; heat to 425F. Put berries, 3/4 cup sugar, lemon juice, zest, nutmeg, remaining flour, and salt into a bowl. Using a wooden spoon, mash gently to make a textured filling; pour into chilled crust; dot with remaining butter; set aside.
- Beat egg white and 1 tbsp. water together in a bowl; set aside. Roll out remaining dough disk into an 11" circle; cut into 3/4"-wide strips. Arrange strips over pie in a lattice pattern; trim excess dough and crimp edges of pie. Brush crust with egg mixture; sprinkle with remaining sugar. Bake on the middle rack of the oven until crust is just golden, about 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350F; bake until golden brown and bubbling, about 30 minutes more. Let cool before serving.
P.S. If you ever come cross any bad links that I have failed to catch, I’d be much obliged if you could email me to let me know so I can fix or remove them. I sure wish I had made a scan of Issue #1 of the Sur La Table newsletter in 2010 when my tips and recipe for apple pie were featured. I didn’t know enough to take a screen shot and it’s gone, gone, gone, too.
UPDATE 8/3/15: Saveur has contacted me and my original recipe is now back up on their website!
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