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Why It Works
- Macerating the strawberries and rhubarb with sugar attracts out extra liquid and concentrates the flavour of the fruit.
- Briefly cooking the macerated fruit with cornstarch, pectin, and several other tablespoons of the macerating liquid helps thicken the filling.
- Incorporating strawberry jam into the pie filling intensifies the berry taste with out introducing extra moisture from contemporary berries alone.
Candy, tart, and jammy, strawberry rhubarb pie is the quintessential spring dessert. Come spring and early summer time, I scour the farmers’ marketplace for these brilliant crimson rhubarb stalks, able to load the trunk of my automobile with as a lot as I can match. Rhubarb season is fleeting—and the one acceptable transfer is to take full benefit of the second by shopping for kilos and kilos of it to show it into crisps, pickles, compotes, and, in fact, pie.
In idea, making a strawberry rhubarb pie is straightforward. You chop up your fruit (although I ought to level out that rhubarb is technically a vegetable), toss it with sugar and your thickener of alternative, encase it in pie dough, and bake till effervescent and golden brown.
The one downside? Strawberries and rhubarb each have low pectin ranges and lots of moisture—a recipe for a watery, mushy mess, particularly if you happen to don’t use the proper and quantity of thickener. There are additionally questions of how greatest to deal with the fillings. What’s the very best dimension to chop the strawberry and rhubarb? Do they must be macerated first to attract out moisture? What further flavorings are good? And what’s a perfect ratio of strawberries to rhubarb?
In my try and nail down the right strawberry rhubarb pie, I baked a dozen, and did additional experiments that zeroed in on a number of the filling variables till I got here up with my preferrred model. I’m speaking a couple of pie that balances the sweetness of strawberries with the tanginess of rhubarb, with a just-set, barely saucy texture of softened fruit that also holds a few of its form.
The one downside? Strawberries and rhubarb each have low pectin ranges and lots of moisture—a recipe for a watery, mushy mess, particularly if you happen to don’t use the proper and quantity of thickener. There are additionally questions of how greatest to deal with the fillings. What’s the very best dimension to chop the strawberry and rhubarb? Do they must be macerated first to attract out moisture? What further flavorings are good? And what’s a perfect ratio of strawberries to rhubarb?
In my try and nail down the right strawberry rhubarb pie, I baked a dozen, and did additional experiments that zeroed in on a number of the filling variables till I got here up with my preferrred model. I’m speaking a couple of pie that balances the sweetness of strawberries with the tanginess of rhubarb, with a just-set, barely saucy texture of softened fruit that also holds a few of its form.
Critical Eats / Amanda Suarez
The Proper Ratio of Fruit and Dicing Selections
As a result of I needed a flavorful pie that allowed each the strawberries and rhubarb to shine, I began with a 1:1 ratio by weight of strawberries to rhubarb, each finely diced. What I didn’t understand was simply how a lot water the strawberries would contribute to the pie filling. Even with an enough quantity of thickener, the pies made with equal components strawberries and rhubarb have been invariably too free. You may surprise, why not simply use extra thickener? We may, however merely rising starch till the liquid is thick sufficient solves one downside whereas creating one other: Stabilizing extra liquid with much more starch leads to a stretchy, slimy filling that—whereas definitely thicker—shouldn’t be interesting.
With this in thoughts, I adjusted the ratios to scale back water from the strawberries, choosing two components rhubarb to at least one half strawberries. As a substitute of a positive cube—which I think uncovered a bit an excessive amount of floor space that allowed extra water to leach out and created a runny filling—I opted for 1/2-inch items. This was the perfect dimension of fruit: massive sufficient for the items to stay distinct, however sufficiently small to melt and prepare dinner down right into a barely jammy filling.
Whereas this mounted the feel downside, it threw off the flavour stability. I needed the pie to style distinctly like a mixture of strawberries and rhubarb, however now it was too rhubarb-forward. To make up for the lower in contemporary strawberries, I folded in just a few tablespoons of strawberry jam, which helped intensify the berry taste with out contributing any further water.
Stopping a Runny Filling: What Form and How A lot Thickener Ought to You Use?
Have a look at most fruit pie recipes, and also you’ll see that they sometimes name for all-purpose flour, cornstarch, potato starch, or tapioca starch as a thickener. It is because most fruit utilized in pie fillings (assume berries, stone fruit, or apples) maintain loads of water that’s launched throughout the cooking course of. And not using a thickener, you’d find yourself with a runny pie—however there’s solely a lot a thickening agent can do that will help you obtain a just-set filling that’s neither soup nor sludge.
Critical Eats / Amanda Suarez
The perfect pies—which have a brilliant freshness and a jammy texture—rely on correct moisture administration, which could be achieved a number of methods. My testing already addressed the ratio of strawberries to rhubarb and the way massive to cube them, however I used to be concurrently tinkering with different variables to zero in on my preferrred taste and texture. A type of variables: the kind and amount of thickener. As I wrote above, extra thickener doesn’t clear up all issues. With the intention to get my filling to work, I needed to not solely swap up the ratio of fruit but in addition experiment with totally different thickeners and strategies of incorporating them.
I began utilizing tapioca starch, former Critical Eats editor Stella Parks’ most well-liked pie thickener, which units fruit fillings with out changing into overly gloppy. I used 5.5% of the full weight of fruit, Stella’s advisable quantity of starch. However even after lowering the quantity of contemporary strawberries in my filling, it nonetheless wasn’t sufficient to soak up the quantity of liquid they unleashed. After I elevated the quantity of starch to six%, the filling managed to by some means be each too free and too gelatinous, underscoring the purpose that merely including extra thickener wasn’t going to be the only real resolution to the issue.
The Foolproof Method for Thickening Strawberry Rhubarb Pie
After I first revealed this recipe in 2023, I referred to as for minute, or quick-cooking, tapioca pearl fragments. Finely floor minute tapioca resulted in a pie filling that was simply set and jammy sufficient to barely ooze out of the pie when reduce into. A number of readers, nevertheless, talked about that the tapioca by no means totally dissolved of their pie and resulted in jelly-like blobs. With this in thoughts, I went again to the kitchen and started experimenting once more.
I in the end landed on a a lot less complicated methodology: I macerate the strawberries and rhubarb to attract out extra liquid and focus the strawberry and rhubarb’s flavors, then briefly prepare dinner it on the range. I toss the fruit in cornstarch and pectin, reincorporate a number of tablespoons of the macerating liquid to hydrate the starches, then carry it to a simmer to assist it gelatinize. The pectin is essential right here as a result of strawberries and rhubarb each have low portions of pectin, a naturally occurring polysaccharide and fiber that helps set pies and fillings, the addition of a number of tablespoons helps encourage the filling right here to set.
It is a comparable methodology to how some savory pies, together with hen pot pie and shepherd’s pie, are made. You sauté the aromatics and meat, coat it in a number of tablespoons of flour, after which deglaze with a liquid like water or broth. Finally, this model is way less complicated and extra simple—and it leads to a just-set pie with no jelly-like blobs in sight.
Could 2023
A Foolproof Rhubarb Pie That Gained’t Flip to Soup, Because of a Genius Trick
Cook dinner Mode
(Maintain display awake)
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6 cups rhubarb (21 ounces; 600 g), trimmed and reduce into 1/2-inch items, about ten 24-inch stalks
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2 cups strawberries (11 ounces; 310 g), trimmed and reduce into 1/2-inch items
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1 1/2 cups granulated sugar (10.5 ounces; 300 g)
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3 tablespoons cornstarch (3/4 ounces; 21 g)
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1 tablespoon (10 g) pectin
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1/4 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt; for desk salt, use half as a lot by quantity
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1 recipe buttery, flaky crust, ready for a double-crusted pie
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1 teaspoon vanilla paste (see notice)
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3 tablespoons strawberry jam or preserves (2.75 ounces; 75 g)
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1 massive egg, frivolously overwhelmed, for glazing
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In a big bowl, use a silicone spatula to toss rhubarb and strawberries with sugar to evenly coat. Put aside to macerate for 1 hour.
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In a small bowl, whisk cornstarch, pectin, and salt to mix; put aside.
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In the meantime, Form Pie Crust: Place pie dough on a well-floured floor. Utilizing a rolling pin, roll 1 disc of pie dough right into a circle roughly 14 inches in diameter. Switch pie dough to a 9-inch pie plate, frivolously cowl with plastic wrap, and refrigerate till prepared to make use of.
Critical Eats / Amanda Suarez
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For a Stable-Prime Pie: Roll remaining dough as earlier than; place dough on a rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Calmly cowl with plastic wrap, and refrigerate till prepared to make use of.
Critical Eats / Amanda Suarez
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For a Lattice-Prime Pie: Roll remaining dough right into a 9- by 15-inch rectangle. Utilizing a pizza cutter, fluted pastry wheel, or knife, reduce dough right into a dozen 10-inch strips, every about 1-inch extensive. Set dough strips on a rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment paper, frivolously cowl with plastic wrap, and refrigerate till prepared to make use of.
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In a big bowl, arrange an ice tub by partially filling it with a mixture of chilly water and ice. Put aside.
Critical Eats / Vicky Wasik
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Set a colander over a big bowl and drain macerated fruit. Pour macerating liquid right into a measuring cup; it is best to have about 1 3/4 cups liquid. Reserve 6 tablespoons; discard the rest or reserve for one more use.
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In a big pot, mix rhubarb, strawberries, vanilla paste, and strawberry jam. Cook dinner over medium warmth, stirring typically, till fruit softens barely and begins to launch some liquid, about 2 minutes. Sprinkle with cornstarch combination; prepare dinner, stirring consistently, till fruit is evenly coated and cornstarch begins to stay to backside of skillet, about 1 minute. Stir in 6 tablespoons of reserved macerating liquid and produce to a simmer. Cook dinner, stirring typically, till combination simply thickens, about 2 minutes. Take away from warmth. Scrape fruit filling to a big bowl; set bowl over ready ice tub. Let sit till room temperature, about half-hour.
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Regulate oven rack to center place and preheat oven to 425°F (220°C).
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Scrape filling into ready pie shell and prime with pie dough or weave strips right into a lattice. Utilizing a pair of kitchen scissors, trim edges of each pie crusts till they overhang the sting of the pie plate by 1/2 inch all the way in which round. Utilizing a pair of kitchen scissors, trim edges of each pie crusts till they overhang the sting of the pie plate by 1/2 inch all the way in which round. Fold edges of each pie crusts down collectively, tucking them in between the underside crust and the pie plate and dealing your approach all the way in which across the pie till every thing is tucked. Use the forefinger in your left hand and the thumb and forefinger in your proper hand to crimp the perimeters. If utilizing a stable prime crust, reduce 5 slits within the prime with a pointy paring knife for air flow.
Critical Eats / Amanda Suarez
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Chill pie within the freezer for quarter-hour. When able to bake, brush pie with egg wash. Bake for quarter-hour, then decrease warmth to 375ºF (190ºC) and bake till the juices are effervescent and the crust is golden brown, 45 to 55 minutes. Take away from oven, switch to a cooling rack, and permit pie to chill fully earlier than serving, about 4 hours.
Critical Eats / Amanda Suarez
Particular Tools
Rolling pin, pizza cutter or pastry wheel, colander, kitchen scissors, paring knife, pastry brush
Notes
Be happy to substitute with an equal quantity of vanilla extract if you happen to don’t have vanilla paste.
Make-Forward and Storage
The pie is greatest eaten inside three days; retailer at cool room temperature and keep away from refrigerating because it can lead to a soggy crust. As soon as cooled, the pie could be frozen for as much as 1 month and thawed within the fridge in a single day.