AnnaZ said: What kind of apples do those of you that bake use for pie? I'm tired of having crunchy apples in my pie. I want the kind "Like Momma Used to Make" where the apples are cooked.
... I like using several different kinds of apples. :>)
The answer is in your question: use a mixture of varieties for texture and taste. I try to use three to five varieties always including something from one of the russet cultivars because I generally love the flavor, then something from the tart side of the cooking apple family like a pippin, and generic sweet apple such as a red delicious. In roughly equal proportions. Here I use a Belchard for the generic apple bit - it was bred from a cross of Golden Delicious and Reinette and cooks like a GD but with much better flavor, I like the Reine de Reinette for russety taste and then I mix and match with what are in season when I am baking. Val de Loire, Granny Smith, Calville Blanc (if I am lucky enough to find them).
If you want the best tasting apple pie may I suggest you use my cooking method? After peeling, coring and cutting the apples (remember to cut them differently depending on their ultimate texture; firm cooking apples into smaller pieces than those that cook into something like applesauce. Toss the apples with a portion of the sugar and a generous pinch of salt you will use in the pie and allow to sit for a while then cover and microwave for five or six minutes - or longer- until the apples are half cooked. Drain the juice from the bowl and in a saucepan reduce it to a syrup like consistency before adding it back to the apples along with whatever seasoning you use, a bit of lemon juice the remaining sugar a splash of Armagnac or Calvados if you like (and who wouldn't), a knob of butter and if you are going to thicken the juices I'd add a teaspoon of tapioca flour. I also like to remind people that a tiny bit of vanilla paste or vanilla extract (think 1/4 tsp) adds a nice round flavor. Place in your crust, egg wash, bake. By par-cooking the apples and reducing their juice you end up with a much more concentrated apple flavor and a less wet pie.
No, your mother didn't fuss like this, but she'd have liked my pie.
