Professor Butter Beard’s “Pies, Pies, Pies”
“One day Kathan brought down lunch, which was a cheese sandwich, a couple of olives, and a beer, and I said, ‘Before we eat that, I think I’ll draw it.’” – Wayne Thiebaud
Oh, Mr. Thiebaud, I feel ya! With just a couple swipes through Facebook or Instagram, we can now know exactly what all our friends are having for breakfast, lunch, dinner or late-night snacks. We live in a world of “food selfies.” Now, please don’t get me wrong! I enjoy every single photo and am guilty of sharing almost every one of my own culinary journeys. Yes, there is a little bit of “show-off pride” involved, but most of all, I hope all these delicious images created by friends and family and talented culinary geniuses inspire viewers to tap into their own individual passions and create, enjoy and share. But back to Mr. Thiebaud…..
The painter Wayne Thiebaud admits that he never went to art school. According to a recent interview (before his death last week at the age of 101), he got the art education that would serve him best by busing tables and washing dishes, molding burgers and building ice cream cones in a restaurant in Long Beach, where he grew up, the son of a Model T mechanic. These memories provided the foundation for his extraordinary journey as a painter best known for his colorful works depicting commonplace objects—pies, lipsticks, paint cans, ice cream cones, pastries, and hot dogs—as well as for his landscapes and figure paintings.
His artistic career began one summer during his high school years when he apprenticed at Walt Disney Studios drawing "in-betweens" of Goofy, Pinocchio, and Jiminy Cricket at a rate of $14 a week. From 1938 to 1949, he worked as a cartoonist and designer in California and New York City. Advised by his friend and hero Willem de Kooning to stop copying others and find his own style, Thiebaud began painting his childhood memories of pastries and confections in a style with a heavy brush that has been described as “a pastry chef applying frosting to a cake.” His first show at Allan Stone Gallery in New York, in 1962, sold out completely, and Thiebaud was on his way to being shown in every major American museum.
Isabelle Dervaux writes that when he was asked about the inspiration for his first pie paintings in the 1960’s, he replied: “I began to feel that I wanted to get rid of the expressionist brushstroke, which jazzes up the surface, making everything active and busy. I decided to go back to very basic, formalist concerns. I took three basic shapes to work with: a rectangle, an ellipse or a circle and a triangle. Well, that’s a piece of pie!”
He was recently asked by Sam Whiting in an interview for the San Francisco Chronicle if he still eats the things he paints. His reply makes my soul smile. “Unfortunately, yes. I can’t get off sugars. I now eat chocolate ice cream and water mixed up together. It’s lighter.”
He went on to say: “Here is essentially what I do. I want to be able to paint any damn thing I want at any time, in any way that I want to do it.” Kudos to you, Mr. Thiebaud. You inspired me to take my grandmother’s chocolate pudding pie and rework the memory incorporating my favorite spices and learned tricks of the trade. Try it, and don’t be afraid to add your own spin. Just don’t forget to take and post a picture!
Winter Spiced Chocolate Pie
1 baked pie shell (either cookie crumb or flour/butter version will work – see note)
Filling:
200 grams of dark chocolate (about 1 ¼ cups)
1 ¾ cup whole milk
½ cup heavy cream
6 Tbsp granulated sugar (divided)
2 tsp instant espresso powder
4 large egg yolks
3 Tbsp cornstarch
½ tsp fine sea salt
2 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp chili powder
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla paste
Cinnamon Whip Cream:
1 cup heavy cream (very cold)
2 Tbsp confectionary sugar
½ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp vanilla paste
1) Bake a pie shell of your choice. Either a cookie crumb or a butter/flour version will work perfectly (see note).
2) Measure out your chocolate and melt in your microwave. Microwave on high for 20 seconds at a time, stirring after each zap, just until the chocolate is glossy and smooth. Set aside to cool slightly.
3) In a medium bowl, whisk together the yolks, 3 Tbsp of the granulated sugar, cornstarch, salt, cinnamon and chili powder.
4) Rinse a heavy saucepan under water, pour out the liquid but do not dry the pan – this will help the scalding milk not to burn (Thank you, Dori Greenspan!). In the saucepan, whisk together the milk, cream, remaining 3 Tbsp of granulated sugar and espresso powder. Slowly bring to a simmer, whisking constantly.
5) Slowly whisk half the simmering milk mixture into the yolk mixture. This will temper the eggs so they do not curdle. Whisk the egg mix back into the remaining milk mixture and return to a medium heat. Bring back to a light simmer and cook for roughly three minutes until the mixture has thickened into a smooth pudding. Make sure to whisk the entire time!
6) Remove the pudding from the heat and whisk in the butter and vanilla paste. Pour the mixture in the cooled pie shell, cover the pudding with a sheet of plastic wrap and refrigerate pie for at least three hours before serving.
7) Before serving, whisk the whip cream ingredients in a standing mixture, or by hand, until you achieve stiff peaks. Top the entire pie, or serve individual slices topped with a generous dollop!
Note – I will upload my favorite pie crust recipe later this week onto the website. It will be an easy search on the recipe page.
Wayne Thiebaud at SFMOMA, 2018, photographed by Liz Hafalia for the San Francisco Chronicle
