- I got some cakes for us.
00:00
To prepare us for this episode,
00:01
I got a delightful strawberry cake,
00:03
yeah!
- Whoa, look at that!
00:07
- Yeah, that's what I'm talkin' about.
00:08
- Wow!
- Mmm, today, we're doin' pie.
00:09
Today on Worth It, we're
gonna try three pies
00:17
at three drastically
different price points
00:19
to find out which one is the
most worth it at its price!
00:20
Which one do you like
better, pie or cake, and why?
00:23
Create your three paragraph essay,
00:26
you can submit it to my Dropbox.
00:28
- Okay, here's why I like pie better.
00:30
I like pie better because
it is usually less sweet,
00:32
and I like pie better because
there is more contrast
00:39
in texture available,
period, end of paragraph.
00:45
- My turn, food is about
sharing experiences,
00:48
and what food is better at
sharing experiences than cake?
00:51
- I'm just saying, more of the time,
00:55
I'm more down to have pie.
00:57
- I wanna end the debate
00:59
without having to get all up in arms.
01:01
- Okay, all I wanna do
is share some pie today.
01:03
- Wanna shake on it?
(upbeat music)
01:06
- My name's Michael Osborn,
01:12
I'm the owner here at Pie 'N Burger.
01:13
We are gonna be trying
several of our classic
01:14
fruit pies today, and we'll
feature apple and boysenberry.
01:16
- [Andrew] Can you tell us a little bit
01:19
about the history of Pie 'N Burger?
01:20
- [Michael] Pie 'N Burger
started in the fall of 1963.
01:21
The recipes are the same
recipes that started,
01:25
and they actually predated the restaurant.
01:27
I've been here 45 years and we do things
01:29
exactly the same way that
we did when we opened
01:31
with a lotta the same ingredients.
01:33
- So when you joined,
01:35
what was your role with the restaurant?
01:36
- I was 18 years old
and I was a night cook,
01:37
so, uh, yeah.
- [Andrew] Really?
01:39
- Yeah, so I was in college
01:41
at the University of Southern California.
01:42
I started working here with the idea
01:44
that I would be here a couple
years to make a little money,
01:46
and then I was gonna
go on and be a dentist.
01:48
- Wow, and now you're sending
people to the dentist.
01:50
- Yes, exactly.
- How are the pies made?
01:53
- [Michael] First of all,
it's all about ingredients.
01:55
We only use Gold Medal flour,
01:57
we only use C&H sugar,
and we never use lard,
01:59
we use a really high grade
vegetable shortening.
02:01
So, we knead the dough by hand.
02:04
When we make the dough, we
like to let the dough sit
02:05
for several days and sort of seize up.
02:07
All of our pies is almost a
full concentration of fruit.
02:10
There's no fruit flavors
really added to 'em,
02:14
no machine, you know, all hand done.
02:16
- [Andrew] You only have
that one mixer in the back?
02:18
- [Michael] We only use it
to make a few light toppings,
02:20
whipped cream and things like
that, we don't use any of it
02:23
in our regular pie-making
process whatsoever.
02:26
- Everything else about
the pie is handmade?
02:28
- Everything is handmade,
we measure out each pie,
02:30
we'll put in the exact
amount of fruit every time,
02:32
and then we'll layer a top crust on it.
02:35
The oven that we use
here at Pie 'N Burger,
02:37
we use a pizza deck oven.
02:39
We cook right on the deck surface
02:41
and we cook at a little
bit slower temperature.
02:43
It allows the pie to come in contact
02:45
directly with the cooking
surface of the oven,
02:47
and it cooks the bottom of the shell
02:50
so you don't get that doughy texture,
02:52
you actually notice a
little bit of brownness
02:54
on the bottom of the pie shell itself.
02:56
- [Andrew] Are you ever asked about
02:57
your preference of pie versus cake?
02:59
- Depends on the day I guess a little bit.
03:01
I have a preference to pie overall.
03:03
- Wow, we're gonna go do the pie,
03:05
we'll do the burger, that's it,
Pie 'N Burger, end of story.
03:06
(cash register dinging)
- Apple pie at Pie 'N Burger.
03:10
If we're goin' pie, we're goin' shake.
03:12
- That actually looks really good.
03:15
- Do you want some?
- I'm just gonna,
03:17
yeah, I'm gonna take a little sample.
03:18
I'm ready to get into this pie.
03:23
- Okay.
(upbeat music)
03:24
- Oooh, look at that, a
clean cut by yours truly!
03:30
- And look how it holds
up, it's not falling apart.
03:34
I could really do some
gymnastics with this thing.
03:36
- Do some gymnastics.
(Andrew gasps)
03:39
(laughing)
(upbeat music)
03:41
- [Andrew] Mmmm.
- Oh, that tasted real!
03:45
- How apples actually taste!
- The thing
03:49
that makes pie, pie,
is the delicious crust.
03:52
- Is the end, yes, yep.
- A lot of the times
03:54
when there's too much
crust, it's just dried out.
03:56
This is still a delicious, tender,
03:58
baked treat just at the end.
04:00
I mean, is there anything
more wholesome than apple pie?
04:02
- Maybe like, goin' to
your grandma's house.
04:05
- What if she had an apple
pie when you got there?
04:07
- Oh my god, that's a movie right there!
04:09
And the sequel is boysenberry pie.
04:11
- [Michael] We heat some
boysenberries on the stove
04:14
to melt 'em down a little bit.
04:16
To get consistency, we use
individually quick frozen fruit.
04:17
That way we're able to get
boysenberries in the wintertime
04:21
when it's not necessarily
a growing season.
04:24
And right now we're getting
boysenberries from Chile.
04:26
(cash register dinging)
- Visually,
04:28
ya hafta love a pie with a red filling.
04:30
This could be a lighthouse.
- Cheers.
04:33
Oh, mmm, gimme another bite,
04:41
wow, just the right amount of crust.
04:43
Pie taco?
- Pie taco?
04:46
Go ahead, pie taco it.
04:48
Oh yeah, I can't understate how perfect
04:50
the amount of crust is on this pie.
04:54
- Oookay, alright, we did not
do this the wrong way, yep.
04:57
Pie 'N Burger.
- Thank you.
05:01
I am literally in heaven.
(lettuce crunching)
05:06
- Alright, let's finish up these burgers,
05:14
and we're headin' to the
road, we're goin' to Houston!
05:17
(Steven inhales audibly)
You see that bite?
05:20
Yo, Andrew!
- Yeah.
05:27
Here's a pie fact for
you, we're in Houston.
05:30
- And as a little dessert,
05:33
we got some sesame balls, ooo!
- Whoa!
05:33
- Mmm, mmm, mmm, Adam's havin'
a good time on the swing set.
05:38
- Pie fact, historians
believe that early pie doughs,
05:44
which mostly consisted of water and flour,
05:47
and could be quite thick,
were primarily meant
05:49
to protect the food inside,
and weren't always eaten.
05:51
- So pies used to just be
semi-edible boxes for other foods.
05:55
- That's right.
- I'm glad they figured out
06:00
how to eat the crust.
- Next up,
06:01
we're headed to a restaurant
called Underbelly.
06:03
- Underbelly!
- Under my belly.
06:05
- We're just gonna have some
pie, but not just some pie,
06:07
because it is going to be--
- Carrot cake pie!
06:10
It's cake pie.
- It's a pie with cake in it.
06:12
- That's right, we stuck
some cake in this episode.
06:14
Okay, you're off the show!
06:19
- My name's Chris Shepherd,
06:24
Chef/Owner here at Underbelly in Houston.
06:25
Today we're doin' the
carrot cake fried pie.
06:27
- Is that a cake or a pie?
- Technically both,
06:28
but it's a pie, fried pie
06:31
is just a southern staple around here.
06:32
- [Steven] Can you tell us
about what pie is in Houston?
06:33
- Proverbial question is cake or pie,
06:35
right, but here we're pie.
06:36
So Underbelly is focused on
the story of Houston food.
06:39
It's also the most
culturally diverse city,
06:42
basically the gateway drug to
people coming into Houston.
06:43
You know, they'll come in and
taste something and be like,
06:46
"I really like this flavor," and I'll say,
06:48
"Well this is Korean, you
need to go up on Long Point."
06:49
Now, at this point, let's
let Victoria kind of show you
06:51
and walk you through the
fried pie aspect of things.
06:53
- I'm Victoria Dearmond,
I am the Pastry Director.
06:55
I've worked here since Underbelly opened,
06:57
almost six years now.
06:59
Underbelly's entire
premise is about locality.
07:00
So, right now it is carrot season.
07:03
We've got the carrots, we shred 'em all
07:05
and make a very traditional carrot cake.
07:07
Then we make the pie
crust, unrendered pork fat,
07:09
it's basically the fat around the kidneys.
07:12
It's much firmer than the outside fat,
07:15
so it's kind of, like, protected by meat.
07:17
That's the main part of
the dough's, the flour,
07:19
the unrendered pork fat,
some salt, baking powder,
07:21
and cold water, just get
everything in the mixer.
07:24
I try to let it sit overnight,
07:27
or at least for a couple
hours before I use it.
07:28
We'll roll 'em into small
balls and roll those out.
07:30
So we have our circles,
07:32
then we put our cake
and cream cheese icing,
07:33
fold it up, pinch it around the sides
07:36
like a little empanada,
and then we fry it.
07:37
You always want them to come out GBD,
07:39
golden, brown, delicious.
07:41
After the pie comes outta the fryer,
07:43
sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on top,
07:45
then goes on a plate with candied pecans
07:46
and kumquat sour cream ice cream.
07:48
(cash register dinging)
- So we asked the chef
07:50
for the recommended drink pairing.
07:52
Victoria gave us this lovely Topo Chico,
07:53
but then Chef Chris is
goin' with the whiskey.
07:57
- I love it.
- I love it too, cheers.
07:59
- I don't know how we should do this,
08:01
since it's a hand pie but I'm
not gonna hold hands with you,
08:03
so I'm just gonna take off
kind of like the center chunk.
08:05
Oooh, seeing the inside of
this makes me go, (slurping).
08:11
Here, you have top crusts on both sides,
08:16
that's like a win-win.
- Ready to eat the pie?
08:18
- Yeah.
(Steven clicks his tongue)
08:20
- That's ridiculously good.
08:25
Kind of like a Frankenstein
dessert experiment,
08:26
but it's not a monster after all.
08:28
I don't think there's ever
been a real answer to the
08:30
pie versus cake debate.
- The answer is cake pie.
08:32
- Oh.
- Oh, there you go!
08:38
Mmm, throw in the ice cream with the pie
08:41
and you get, like, that citrus-y flavor.
08:43
- Having that zing of
that orangey kumquat,
08:45
it's delightful, what's this?
08:48
- [Victoria] Just in
case you need more pie.
08:50
- What, oh, oh yeah!
- This is vinegar pie,
08:51
and this is a chocolate citrus pie.
08:53
- Oh yeah.
(Victoria laughs)
08:56
- Oh, this is the best part
08:58
of any ice cream accompanied dessert.
08:59
My dad will spend 25
minutes goin' like this
09:01
with a bowl of ice cream.
09:05
the most delicious
creamsicle I've ever had.
09:12
- Pie break, Chris Shepherd
actually advised that we,
09:20
while we're here in Houston,
try some Viet-Cajun food
09:23
because it's the thing to do in Houston!
09:27
- Too busy eating, so
here's a fact for you.
09:40
- [Voiceover] According to
the American Pie Council,
09:42
over 180 million pies are bought
09:45
at US grocery stores every year.
09:48
That's enough pies to circle
the globe, with leftovers!
09:51
- So now, we're goin' to a place
09:56
that serves pumpecapple piecake.
09:58
That's right, we had cake pie
and now we're goin' piecake.
10:01
Pumpecapple piecake.
- Pumpecapple.
10:04
- Boom, let's go eat some piecake!
10:07
It is 8:00 PM right now and I am up!
10:08
- Let's get that pie.
(singing Twilight Zone theme)
10:12
- Welcome to Three Brothers
Bakery, my name's Robert Jucker.
10:21
Today we're gonna be tryin'
the pumpecapple piecake.
10:24
We got voted by Country Living Magazine
10:27
for our pecan pie as the best pecan pie
10:30
mail order has to offer.
10:32
One of the writers for the
Houston Chronicle, Greg Morago,
10:33
wanted to write an article about that.
10:36
Started talkin' to my wife
10:38
about having me do somethin' unusual.
10:39
I made the pumpecapple piecake,
we really did it as a joke.
10:42
The Food Network found out about it,
10:45
and then it just really went viral.
10:47
- Is it a pie or is it a cake?
10:49
- Well that's really the question.
10:51
- If this is the liger of piecake?
10:54
- More like the turducken of desserts.
10:56
- That's exactly what it is.
10:58
- What are the flavors
inside of this thing?
10:59
- [Robert] Apple pie
with an apple spice cake,
11:01
pecan pie with a chocolate cake,
11:03
and pumpkin pie with a pumpkin spice cake.
11:06
- [Andrew] So there are also
11:09
three different kinds of cake, I see.
11:10
- [Robert] Yes, first you gotta
start with makin' the pie.
11:12
So, we make the dough for the pie shells,
11:15
put the filling in, put the
lattice work on, bake 'em off.
11:17
Then after we get the pies
ready and we cool 'em off,
11:20
we get the batter ready
for the cake batter,
11:23
and then we pour 'em in the pans,
11:25
dump the pies into the pans,
11:27
cover them up with batter, bake 'em off.
11:29
We let those cool when
they come outta the oven,
11:31
and then we start to build
it, apple on the bottom,
11:33
pecan in the middle, pumpkin on top,
11:36
put the cream cheese icing in between,
11:38
nuts around the side, and then
we drizzle caramel on top.
11:40
- [Andrew] Generally
speaking across all desserts,
11:43
are you more of a pie guy or a cake guy?
11:46
- [Robert] I think I'm more of a cake guy.
11:47
- Yessss!
- Really, wow!
11:49
- So you hafta understand that
I work here everyday, right,
11:51
and I'm trying to lose some weight.
11:54
I just like 'em without
icing, just the cake.
11:56
(cash register dinging)
- We're going to have
11:58
three pies in three cakes in one cake.
12:01
- Pumpkin, pecan, apple.
- Pum-pec-apple.
12:04
- Oh, pumpecap, pumpecanple.
12:09
- Adam was telling me before this,
12:12
there's a rule to not eat something
12:14
that's bigger than the size of your head?
12:15
Too late, we're breaking the rule today!
12:16
'Cause that thing is bigger than my head.
12:18
- You got that? I'll take the other.
12:20
- This is what they actually
use to cut the piecake.
12:22
- [Andrew] Oh yeah.
12:26
First a bit of pumpkin,
then a little bit of apple.
12:27
- Pumpecapple.
- Pumpkinapp, pump.
12:30
- Pumpecapple!
- Cheers, Steven.
12:34
- Cheers.
(elegant music)
12:35
- It's really good!
- When you eat a smoothie,
12:41
you're putting together, like,
12:44
bananas and apples and
other flavors together.
12:45
This is just like the non-blended
version of a smoothie.
12:47
It's funny though, because
it started as a joke.
12:51
That's when true creativity comes out.
12:54
- I knew going in that we
were having three pies,
12:55
three cakes, but I forgot
about the icing component.
12:58
- Yes.
- So not only
13:01
is this the greatest hits of pie flavors,
13:02
but the greatest frosting, arguably,
13:04
is the cream cheese frosting.
13:07
- I wanna try the pecan pie by itself.
13:08
- Wonderful, yes, you're never
bored eating this piecake.
13:14
There's always another
flavor to come back to.
13:18
But just like 3.14,
13:20
there is no ground
conclusion to this piecake.
13:23
(Steven laughing)
That's how pi works,
13:26
right, it's been a while.
13:28
Adam, would you like to try
the pumpca-papple, pump.
13:29
- Pumpecapple!
- Pumpecapple.
13:33
(laughing)
What are you doing?
13:35
- Gotta admit, you may have
won me over with this episode.
13:45
Pie takes the cake for me,
nah I'm just, but yeah, pie.
13:49
Which pie was the most worth
it to you at its price?
13:53
- For me, the most worth it pie
13:57
was Pie 'N Burger's slice of pie.
13:58
It's the last chapter on a delicious book
14:01
called "I Just Ate a Burger."
14:04
- My worth it winner, Underbelly.
14:06
We got both cake and pie in a pie.
14:08
- Hot, crispy, delicious filling,
14:10
and if you went back there,
14:13
regardless of the filling,
that's gonna be a great pie.
14:15
- But shoutout to the pumpecapple pie.
14:17
Bobby, you figured it out!
- You did.
14:19
- It's like landing on the moon.
14:21
- Special Worth It props
to the pumpecapple pie.
14:22
Adam, who's your worth it winner?
14:24
- Ooh, we're at the hotel,
it is time to sleep.
14:27
Next week comin' up?
- We're vampires.
14:30
- No, we're eating pho, actually
we're doin' it right now
14:33
but you'll see that
next week, teaser alert!
14:36
You guys have been asking for it.
14:38
- They've been askin' pho it?
14:39
- We're gonna take a nap,
14:42
get rid of the bad puns,
you'll see us next week.
14:42
- [Voiceover] Oh, yes!
14:48