THE PIBLE

PIE + BIBLE = PIBLE

You won't find “Pible” in the dictionary. I cooked up that word in 2011 when I began my search for a pie reference book to guide me through that year of pie making.

Back then, my collection of 200+ cookbooks yielded not one book on pies. I recall owning a "Martha Stewart's Pies and Tarts" book, but it sat forlornly on my bookshelf like a neglected orphan. I think it ended up in a yard sale. Or maybe it ran away in the middle of the night, jealous of all the attention I lavished on my cake cookbooks.

My cake books were aplenty.
I counted over twenty!
The bookstore yielded many more.
But pie books? There were only four.

I’m a poet and I know it.

In 2011, the local Borders bookstore stocked 36 different cake cookbook titles. That year, of the mere four pie cookbooks on that bookstore shelf, I ended up purchasing “Pie”, a comprehensive reference book written by pie maker extraordinaire, Ken Haedrich. The 640-page tome promised to be the perfect Pible. The author's passion for pies spilled over the pages of the book like a hot torrent of bubbling blueberry filling. Chock-full of tips and brimming with detailed instructions, I wasted no time hoisting my Pible to the checkout counter.

I reached out to Ken to alert him to my 50-pie goal. He lived in Annapolis, Maryland at the time and coincidentally my son was there enduring his Naval Academy plebe year. Ken was gracious enough to respond to me, offering any assistance in my newbie endeavors and inviting me over to meet his wife Bev and savor a slice of pie.

Fast forward to 2024. I scanned the shelves at the nearest Barnes & Noble and counted 13 cake cookbook titles and 14 pie cookbook titles. Evidently pies are tipping the scales, a baker’s dozen years later! What’s even cooler…I spotted a new Ken Haedrich pie cookbook titled “Pie Academy”, a befitting nod to his years living near the U.S. Naval Academy.

I am now armed with my dog-eared and butter-stained copy of Ken’s “Pie” and a crisp new hardcover copy of his most recent book “Pie Academy”.

Pie #1 is in the queue.   
Oh my, it's pie déjà vu!

I'm a poet and I know it.