Louisa Kamps From Every Day with Rachael Ray November-December 2005 Runners-Up Pie Chart Key: Crust made with butter = B, lard = L, shortening = S The Runner Up Head baker at Verrill Farm in Concord, Massachusetts, Jen Verrill-Faddoul describes her Kentucky bourbon pecan pie as the result of "fooling around with bourbon and chocolate." The combination of sweet and salty flavors is pure genius. ($14, available at the farm stand; 978-369-4494) B Orange Crush David Wilke, co-owner of the casually chic The B Line in Tucson, Arizona, knows his sweet potato pie "can go toe-to-toe with pumpkin any day." He's not lying: B Line regulars are known to order both rather than choose. ($4 a slice, available in the store; 520-882-7575) B Rockin' Pie Before launching Baltimore's honky-tonk pie shop Dangerously Delicious Pies, rocker Rodney Henry trolled through several issues of The Pie and ice cream are famous friends, so I conducted an informal survey of vanillas at my house while the pies were rolling in. Our favorite supermarket brand: Ben & Jerry's (around $4 a pint), unanimously voted to have the truest vanilla flavor. Our preferred splurge: Kopp's Frozen Custard ($75 for 10 pints at kopps.com). Churned in Milwaukee since 1950, it has a creamy texture that complements any pie filling.—LK Farmer's Almanac for baking tips. Henry's lemon chess pie proves worth the homework. ($20; dangerouspies.com) L The Classic Liz Smothers, head of the family-run Julian Pie Company in California, made tiny apple pies in jar lids as a kid. Today, her original apple is full size and divine: a meltingly tender crust surrounds cinnamony apples slow-baked to retain a bit of snap. ($15; julianpie.com) S Crumbiest Pie Midwesterners swoon for the tart cherries grown around the northern Great Lakes, and Michigan's Grand Traverse Pie Company's cherry cobbler—a crumb- topped pie—shows off their sweet-sour taste and festive, fire-engine-red color. ($18; gtpie.com) S Mass Appeal America's best-selling pumpkin pie, Sara Lee Oven Fresh Pumpkin Pie, is exactly what you'd hope to make at home if you had time: a silky smooth, delicately spiced custard in a light, flaky crust. ($5; available at supermarkets nationwide) S Completely Nutty Sweetie Pies, in Fish Creek, Wisconsin, is not messing around when it comes to pecan pie. Rather than just resting on top of the filling, the nuts in this not-too-sweet, superior version are packed dense all the way down to the crust. ($18; doorcountypies.com) S B Over-the-Top Towering desserts are a specialty of the Blue Owl Restaurant and Bakery in Kimmswick, Missouri. One of the tallest and tastiest is Caramel Apple Pecan pie: eighteen apples buried under a basilica dome of caramel-coated crust. As my husband noted, happily plunging his fork in for another bite, "Nothing subtle about it, but in a good way." ($30, available in the store; 636-464-3128) S       UPPER CRUST Fat is key to pie crust, but how do different fats influence texture and flavor? Gale Gand, author of Short + Sweet ($28, Clarkson Potter), offers up a cheat sheet.     Butter Tricky to work with because it melts fast, butter is nevertheless a much-preferred fat. There's no substitute for the delicious flavor it gives a crust.   Lard It reaches higher temperatures than butter, leaving behind big pockets where steam builds up during baking. The result: a tender, flaky crust. Mix with butter for better flavor.   Shortening Easier to work with than butter (its high melting temperature helps crusts hold their shape) and cheaper than high-quality lard, it's a favorite of restaurant chefs.

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