Same Sex Marriage And The Supreme Court, Death Is Having A Moment, Food Friday: Pies

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Death is having a moment in mainstream culture, according to our friends at WPR’s “To The Best Of Our Knowledge.” We launch a joint series about death and dying. Then we discuss Thursday’s decision by a federal appeals court to uphold state same-sex marriage bans in four states and we get ready for the holidays with a pie making lesson.

Featured in this Show

  • Mystery Solved! Get The Keys To Baking Perfect Pie

    For award-winning baker and writer Kate Lebo, baking pie is a journey in fruit, flour and butter, served with a dollop of poetry and a pinch of sass.

    The mastermind behind San Francisco-based Pie School, Lebo approaches pie baking as a poem, in which there’s a fine balance between meter and rhythm; rules and creativity.

    “Through my training as a poet, I started to look at pie as a form, like a sonnet that has these ridiculous rules that you have to adhere to get to something really cool,” said Lebo.

    And no, concurs Lebo, baking isn’t always “as easy as pie.” The author of “Pie School: Lessons in Fruit, Flour and Butter,” Lebo found that baking held two big mysteries for her.

    “It was a mystery to me first why it was supposed to be so easy. And then why it was so hard,” she said.

    According to Lebo, there are two key rules to remember when it comes to baking pie. First, use cold fat. Leaf lard, Crisco, butter or any combination of these will do — so long as it’s cold. The reason temperature is important is that the dough needs to keep it shape, said Lebo.

    “When you roll it out real thin, you get these layers of butter, these layers of flour, these layers of butter … and they poof in the oven and make flakes.”

    Second, use hands. When using hands, a baker can adjust the dough based on what they feel from the touch, rather than anxiously peering into a cookbook.

    “You look into the bowl a different way when you’ve got your hands in it,” said Lebo. “I love to get my hands dirty. That’s where the love comes into it.”

    Lebo believes its hand-made nature is what makes pie a folk art that is passed down through generations: “You needed to be in the kitchen next to your grandmother and grandfather to see how they touched it.”

    So, tie on an apron and take a crack at Lebo’s whiskey maple pecan pie recipe, which offers two crust options to choose from. Maybe it’s time to get those hands dirty!

  • Federal Appeals Court Upholds Same-Sex Marriage Ban For First Time

    For the first time since the Supreme Court struck down the federal Defense of Marriage Act last year, a federal appeals court upheld state bans on same-sex marriage Thursday.

    The 6th circuit court in Cincinnati overturned lower court rulings to keep same-sex marriage illegal in Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee, and Kentucky. This runs counter to the trend of appeals courts across the country ruling in favor of same-sex marriage.

  • Opening Up A Conversation About Death And Dying

    We’re joined by the executive producer of WPR’s “To the Best of Our Knowledge” to talk about their upcoming series on death, and why it seems like open cultural conversations about death are becoming more common.

  • Pie School: Lessons In Fruit, Flour and Butter

    To award-winning baker and writer Kate Lebo, baking pie is a journey in fruit, flour and butter, served with a dollop of poetry and a pinch of sass. Tie on an apron and join her in Pie School, for creations as stirring as Blueberry Lemon Verbena Galette, Cheddar-Crusted Apple Pie and Whiskey Maple Pecan Pie. School has never been this much fun!

Episode Credits

  • Rob Ferrett Host
  • Veronica Rueckert Host
  • Marika Suval Producer
  • Galen Druke Producer
  • Kate Lebo Guest
  • Kimi King Guest

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