The following originally appeared on 7/16/08 at Exit 51
Would You Believe?
Rose Levy Beranbaum talked to me? Well she did. And I can prove it.
Ok, so it’s not like we had a leisurely chat over coffee or anything. She was on today’s Free Range on Food chat hosted by the Washington Post. Seeing as how I had drooled all over myself reading her pie recipes, this was an opportunity I just couldn’t pass up to ask a few questions.
So I did. And she answered ‘em. Check it out:
_______________________
Pitting Cherries: How exactly does one pit a cherry? Especially without the aid of a pitter? Is it dreadfully wrong to cut them in half?
Rose Levy Beranbaum: use a large old-fashioned hair pin–insert the looped end into the stem end of the cherry and fish it out. this disrupts the cherry the least. i wouldn’t cut them in half–it changes the texture and therefore the flavor perception as well.
_______________________
Oh My, Cherry Pie!: Regarding the Cherry Pie, can the filling be prepped ahead of time (say a day or two) and kept in the fridge?
Also, is it safe to place a pyrex glass baking dish on the pizza stone that lives in the bottom of my oven?
Rose Levy Beranbaum: yes it is! but don’t take a pyrex dish directly from the freezer to a hot solid surface such as a stone.
_______________________
Oh My Pie Follow Up: Thanks for the tip on the pyrex and pizza stone. What are your thoughts on prepping the filling a day or two in advance and keeping it in the ice box? Does the texture suffer too greatly?
Rose Levy Beranbaum: since the fruit will break down somewhat on baking i don’t think you’d notice a difference in texture storing covered in the frig. until the next day.
_______________________
How cool is that?
Bon Appetit Hon 
Love these little tips and hints, interesting one about the old fashioned hair pin. Thanks for sharing.
Anna, my own later experience proved that in a pinch the hair pin trick works but it is extremely messy. I still need to try those pie recipes.
Ah, you had a brush with fame! Brava!
Kitch, I figure that’s as close as I will ever get to my 15 minutes of fame.
hey hon! wouldn’t you know it, a hand pitted cheery pie was the cornerstone of my courship with my husband! I sat on the roof top of my lovely berkeley home and pitted with a pairing knife ’til i was near zen. sure wish i’d known about the hair pin trick then. the pie was good even though i could only find bing cherries. they had nothing on the baltimore queen anne cheerries from my sister’s back yard.
K8, I had no idea you and Young Ed had a pie based courtship. Oh yes, he’s good people.
I really need to man up and give this recipe a try. I’ve had it for something like two years. And if you can make cheese, the least I can do is roll some dough and pit some cherries.