[.ca] The Perfect Pie: More Than 125 All-Time Favorite Pies & ... (ISBN 0767902629)

Pies, Tarts, Pastries, Dumplings, Apple Crisp, and More:
Each section provides a detailed tutorial followed by a variety of recipes. There are a wide number of crusts and fillings available to suit any need or occasion.

Major disappointment.:
Sometimes it only takes one bad recipe to ruin a cookbook for me, and that's what happened with this one. Susan Purdy's apricot-walnut pie turned out to be a soggy, way oversweet mess, and I didn't use half the sugar she called for. I've been making pies a long time, and I had questions about this recipe from the get-go. Her crust recipes are good, however, although it's annoying that she never tells you, when adding an ingredient like wheat germ to a crust, whether said ingredient replaces part of the dry ingredients called for, or is added to them. Seems like a major oversight in a book that promises to clearly communicate pie recipes.

Lots of good info:
I had never made a pie before reading this book, but I was interested, so I picked up a copy. It has a lot of good recipes and advice for the price, and the sections in the beginning about the different ingredients and their roles in pie fillings and crusts were very helpful. I don't like just following the steps in a recipe. I really like to know what's going on in the bowl/pan, and her details really helped me get a feel for how the process of making a pie should work.

ALL YOU'LL EVER NEED TO KNOW ABOUT PIES:
IF IT HAS A CRUST AND YOU CALL IT DESSERT, SUSAN G. PURDY PRESENTS IT TO YOU IN THIS COOK BOOK. SHE DISPLAYS HER ENCYCLOPEDIC KNOWLEDGE ABOUT PIES IN LOGICAL PIE-MAKING ORDER AND USES A FRIENDLY CONVERSATIONAL TONE THROUGHOUT THE BOOK. FROM CRUSTS TO GLAZES TO GREEN TOMATOE OR LEMON MERINGUE PIE, YOU WANT MAKE IT!