(American) Pi Day Apple Pie 

*Afterthoughts & Addenda* *Cookers and Eaters* - quite a lot of folks from the USA have commented (I'm not complaining - it's lovely to see you here) to say you have cooking apples there too, like Granny Smith - just to clarify - this isn't the sort of thing that is meant by 'cooking apples' here in the UK. The best-known 'cooking' variety here is called Bramley's Seedling (often just 'Bramley') - it's very large (sometimes too big to pick up with one hand); often misshapen, has a very waxy skin, making it great for winter storage, and when cooked, it turns into a sort of delicate apple sauce - it also has a quite distinctive flavour and aroma. There are dozens, probably hundreds of cooking apple varieties in the UK that are typically never eaten uncooked and unsweetened. By way of analogy - the difference between cookers and eaters is somewhat like the difference between a tangerine and a grapefruit - they're thought of as very different things from one another. Granny Smith, on the other hand, is here mostly considered to be a sour green 'eater' that you can also cook with if you can't get find Bramley or other cookers.

What my family does with extra pie dough, or with scraps, is to cover them with cinnamon and sugar, and then bake them until golden brown. This makes a tasty flakey cookie-like pastry

If you use a preheated pizza stone to set the pie on in the oven the bottom cooks much better on fruit and meat pies.

I don't think I've seen such a beautifully brown crust on an apple pie. Awesome!

I love that Dodecember should TECHNICALLY be the 12th month due to name, but keeps the trend of the names being wrong for the month number

The way you said "That is a very fine pie" was quite possibly the happiest I've ever heard you lol. That's me sold on the recipe I'm going to try it this week :)

A few facts from Denmark: A popular cooking apple here is Belle de Boskoop, which is tart enough for cooking and sweet enough to eat as a dessert apple. P-day here is the day the breweries sent the Easter brews on the market. There is no term in the Danish language for 'enough' butter. . . . OK, I made the last one up. Thanks for the recipe, Mike!

We also don't use "shortcrust pastry." We make "pie dough" with no sugar. What fun and what a lovely weekday treat to have a Shrimp video!

Cheers from America! I could smell it from here. Just wonderful. My grandmother taught me how to make pies and she had a dish similar to that (american version of course). You could only make apple pies in the apple dish and if you cut it and the word "Apple" showed up that was extra lucky, even better if you were slotted for the first piece. Couldn't see in the video what was under your piece. Thank you for everything you bring us, seriously pure joy every time. Addendum: A few hours later... that apple pie smell was coming from my neighbor's house. They just brought me a piece for PI day! Can this day get any better?

My mum had a very pretty cutlery set when I was a kid and she would use the end of the handle of one of the spoons turned upside down to press down all around her pies. They were the prettiest pie edges I’ve ever seen, all decorated with flowers and leaves. Ahh..memories!

The pie dish recipe also uses the word “teaspoonful” (American recipes would generally just say “teaspoon”) and the spelling “centre” (the standard American spelling is “center”).

"We have a ittle while to wait here in the UK because... British pi day doesn't come around until the 3rd of Dodecember" Actually killed me 😂

I like the small container of flour, easily sprinkled over the dough. Much more efficient than my "Is anyone nearby?... I need a handful of flour tossed into this dough!" slogan I am known for when I blunder through making pastry.

That pie came out beautiful, it looks like it's from a bakery! I'm really impressed, Glad you got to enjoy the "fruits" 🍏 🍎 of your labour! 🥧

Also you can rinse off with cold water while avoiding pouring it into the bowl. And you can still use the sink even with a bowl full of dirty dishes

Eat only 3.14% of the pie! Ps I think it’s time you did a video using shrimp to do justice to the channel name!🤣

I'm so glad this was suggested to me. Absolutely delightful video! As an American I'd guess the pie pan you bought says "made in China" somewhere on it. 🤣 Much warm love from Texas. Cheers! Xx

Minor note: the term “cooking apple” is not common here in the US, but using Granny Smith apples (a tarter variety that keeps its shape after baking) is common. People also definitely use dessert apples depending on their preferences.

A few more things about the dish, it uses the British spelling "centre" instead of "center," and also (I could be wrong here, because I'm not exactly a pastry chef) I've only ever heard the term "shortcrust pastry" from UK sources. Over here I genuinely think it would simply be called "pie crust," as that is the only way I have ever heard it referenced, and because of the relative rarity of other pastries that would use it like tarts in the states. Edit: Oh, and also, yes you are correct that we would use desert apples and not cooking apples, although I believe those do exist here for certain uses.

The very last sentence of the dish uses "centre" instead of "center".

I love baking and I love a good apple pie. Seeing a Brit take on American style apple pie is interesting as the way we think about the ingredients and the order of putting them together might be different. So the way I learned to make apple pie, and I'm fairly certain this is the Northeastern way of making it or at least one of the more traditional ways in the Northeast, is to make the crust with: 2.5 cups flour 1 cup solid fat (all butter or shortening or a mix of the two to fit your liking), 1 teaspoon of salt (unless your using salted butter then it is less), 2 teaspoons of sugar, and 6 to 8 tablespoons of ice water. Cut in the fat until pea sized and then treat like the rough puff crust. The filling was the most interesting thing to me and had me saying "ok that's odd". Normally you start making the filling the day before with 2-3 pounds Granny Smith apples for the most traditional (see your local taste buds for other apples if wanted) tossed in a half cup of sugar and the spice mix of half tablespoon of cinnamon, quarter teaspoon of cloves, and the same amount of nutmeg. Some people add other spices so seeing the ginger in there is odd to me, but I add ground cardamom to mine so. We also cut the apples into eights for more bite in the finished pie or sixteenths for a more soft granny smith; always peeled of course. The biggest difference I saw was the filling jelly. A more New England style apple pie would have you drain the apple spiced juice and add it to a saucepan with a tablespoon (at max) of corn starch and cook it on the stove just until the first hints of the juice congealing happens. You then take the apples, pack then in the pie plate with the bottom dough overhanging, and pour the sauce over the apples. Place the top dough on, seal, and bake at 350- 425 F for 45-90 minutes (depending on the recipe, there's some debate there. I bake at 425 F for 45-50 minutes). The putting of bits of butter never crossed my mind and would be delicious I bet. Great video as always Mr. Atomic Shrimp.

This reminded me of my childhood friend. She was caled Angela Cox and everyone called her Cox's Pippin which quickly got shortened to Pippin and then to Pipsy. I am 62 now and she was about three years older than me and I do wonder if she is still called by everyone..."Pipsy"? Just a random thought!!

In the U.S. we sometimes refer to Granny Smith apples as cooking apples, as they are the typically used in recipes due to their tartness and texture. I would enjoy seeing you try an American "Dutch Apple Pie". It has a crumble topping instead of a top crust. In my opinion it's a superior choice, but that's because I'm not the biggest fan of pie crust. The drawback with the crumble is that it doesn't go with cheddar cheese the way a crust does. Apple Pie with a nice sharp cheddar is beautiful.

Gotta say that looks absolutely delicious. I’m normally too lazy to make pie and do crumble because it is quicker. But the crunch as you cut through was wonderful.

It might just be how it came out on camera but those apples looked more like Gala to me, (although still unusually big but maybe they had a really good season?) the colouration seemed more typical and it looked like the texture was more powdery than crisp. As a kid, when my mum made pie, my favourite thing was always getting to use the pastry scraps to make jam tarts. I remember a couple of unsuccessful attempts to make biscuits, no one ever bothered to tell me that sweet shortcrust was a thing. That recipe does look wonderful, but I think I'd be tempted to replace about 1/3 of the apples with pears and maybe add a splash of brandy. I guess then it wouldn't be apple pie anymore however.

From this humble American: If you make it yourself, the best you can; for your family, whomever they may be; and in your home, wherever that is; you've made a true, American Apple Pie. Excellent pie, Mr. Shrimp! And Happy Pi Day as well!

2:30 in and you've already given me an obvious solution to an everyday problem. Definitely going to find a plastic or rubber dish that fits my sink for washing dishes. I love this channel.

i feel like an American recipe would probably not even bother to have metric at all 😭

i have a pi obsessed friend (she's memorizing/training for a competition), gonna send this to her and make her happy

It’s my birthday today too!

I cant wait for the European pi day! I always make my signature Dodo meat pie which I sometimes make on 30th February too.

My co-workers had plenty of Pi Day jokes in our Slack chat today, lol. I was not expecting a video on the subject here but I enjoyed watching this process! That pie looks amazing. Also, as an American, that opening joke about the UK's "Pie Day" was just perfect 😂

I make pastry the way my mum taught me many years ago - 2 x self raising flour, 1 x lard, a good pinch of salt and just enough stone cold water, and combine with a steak fork to leave flakes of fat. I only ever use Bramley Seedlings (I have a tree) and I'm not a fan of cinnamon so I leave that out. I have made rough puff in the past, but have never tried making an apple pie lid with it. I have to admit, it looked lovely.

how many american viewers do you have on average for cooking videos like these? do youtube have a analytics section which breaks down locations of viewers or something? not taking the mick, just genuinely interested.

In Germany the "Holsteiner Cox" is an older variety that's very well suited for cooking and baking, sweet and juicy.

Happy Pi/pie day everyone! 🥧 🍎

Dodecember is my favourite month now

When you weighed the apples, and said "887 g, Write that down" it reminded me of Look Around You, was that deliberate? :D

I always used a mixed collection of apples, half cooking for the tartness and toothy texture, half "desert" for sweetness and also soft texture.

Wonderful. As an American, I thank you for crediting us a little and then making that fabulous pie. I am going to try your recipe.

That pie looks amazing, inside and out. From an American point of view, looks like you nailed it. I cannot wait to try your two style of crusts method. My mother will be blown away!!

I don't think you use as much water if u use a washing up bowl.

I love this, thank you for calling out the Britishized apple pie, I enjoyed quite a laugh from it.

I find the constant reassurance that no food is being wasted (and knowing that it's actually true) so satisfying about your videos.

I had a minced meat pi-rog according to ISO standard date 2023-03-14 . I am ashamed to admit this was a coincidence.

Eating pie without your wife seems like it should be some sort of hate crime :)

Those apples look suspiciously like "Pink Lady" variety of apple which my mum regularly eats! The thing is the "Pink Lady's" she's been eating recently are NOT in fact "Pink Lady's" as they're a lot smaller and not as crispy as they normally would be. So I'm wondering if somewhere along the line the "Pink Lady's" and "Braeburn" varieties have been mixed up and have become opposites

One other difference - here “corn flour” generally refers to ground whole corn, used for tortillas and such, whereas corn starch is starch only the starch and used for thickening.

Always cooks the apples in a saucepan for a bit before putting into the pie, makes them softer and I guess the extra heat helps cook the base of the pie. Also if too many apples have been cooked they can be used to go with pork as an apple sauce. Edit: also adding a couple of cloves to the apples while in the saucepan means less spice needed.

That looks like a great pie, love that crunch, and it's a very interesting recipe. As a pie maker myself I did note a few interesting differences between your apple pie and at least my recipe for a traditional American apple pie. One difference being the apple type, I tend to use granny-smith/golden delicious in a three to one ratio respectively. Also I use a "pie crust" dough, it's made a bit differently. I tend to cook my apples down a bit too, which actually makes a wonderful apple-butter esque by product that my family enjoys on toast and the like. I'll have to try making yours as well, it looks delicious, and that crunch, mmm. I've been watching your channel for a years and do find myself frequently inspired to try new recipes and dishes. If you are at all interested, I would be more than happy to share my recipe here as well.

Just in time, and what a coincidence that my folks are making an apple pie for today too!

Actual Pi Day video, and here I was just looking at the Fray Bentos one earlier... which is now the knockoff Pi Day video

Might you consider doing a rice pudding make-and-taste video to add to your pudding series? Lots of questions to ask. Best made in oven or on the hob? Best with only milk or add cream too? Eat the skin or don't eat the skin? Best taste if it's hot or cold? Which are the nicest toppings? Jam, sultanas, cinnamon, syrup, chocolate buttons, brandy snaps... I don't know... any inspiration. :)

they spell centre centre and not center, also a dead giveaway its british

I started making apple pie more regularly in college (my Gram often enlisted my help when I was a kid), mostly because I was homesick. I noticed some key differences between ours… 1) I use shortening in my crusts and a pastry cutter. 2) I don’t use lemon juice, but I have taken to par-cooking the apples for ten minutes in boiling water, then straining and adding my spices (sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, with flour to help bind it and salt to draw out flavor). 3) I don’t know if you have an analog to Granny Smith apples across the pond, but that’s what I’ve been using. And yes, remove as much skin as you can, otherwise it’s like biting into a bowstring. 4) I wrap the edges with tinfoil to keep it from browning too much. Other than that, no special treatment to the crust. For me, I think the main difference is that I make it just like Gram used to… nothing overly fancy, just a homemade apple pie.

Hello Mike, the end screen didn't work for me, the More Videos Like This, Subscribe, and Latest upload is all blank. A great video, and a bonus as it's Tuesday. Thank you. Have a good week.

Technically, pi day here would be the 31st April. Oh, wait . . . Let's go for the 1st of May then! Three days before Star Wars day.

You could consider July 22nd to be Pi Approximation Day because 22/7 is close to Pi. I celebrate both that and March 14th because I love celebrating Pi Day.

I very rarely make fruit pies, but im jonesing for some apple pie now, so off to the supermarket to get the ingredients! That crunchy topping looked so good!

most "american'" apple pie = using Granny Smith green apple I live in Canada and over here we prefer sweet apples and barely any o evenr not at all cinnamon in the pie

it's an american apple pie recipe, not an american apple pie recipe

Also, near the center of the dish is the word "centre". (not even going to mention the missing apostrophe at the end of the third paragraph)

My great grandfather always said "if you have apple pie you don't need dinner." I think he would have really liked your pie. Very American to serve with ice cream. Nice work sir!

Trans-Atlantic Multi-national International Apple Pie... I can see why it's easier to call everything "pudding."

my understanding of what a "cooking apple" is is something like a granny smith, or other similar varieties that are more tart and astringent than many people would want to eat raw, but they are commonly used in apple pies and such. however, i've pretty much never heard the actual term "cooking apple" used in the US, only really in UK-based media, so the term itself might be a giveaway (unless it's a regional thing and calling them "cooking apples" is common in other parts of the US)

I've watched several different videos about American apple pie I think the first Apple was made in Europe but now apple pie has to famous in America all over countries except India however this video is different you made the perfect pie this video is extremely helpful for making perfectly American pie thanks for making this video.

Yumm! Thanks for the brilliant short / rough puff pastry tips. Would have been a pity to wait til Dodecember for this pie. I’ll be making it this weekend.

British Pi Day is 22nd July - not only is 22/7 a sensible date format, it's actually a better approximation for pi then 3.14

I can't wait for the 3rd of Dodecember, when I'll celebrate with every sort of British Pie I can think of.

Great video Mike, thanks. That pie looked delicious - I'm contemplating going out to get some apples... I like Sturmers both to eat and in pies. Would cooking at a lower temperature have meant the top and bottom of the pie cooked at the same time? Cheers.

The most obvious hint for me is probably that the metric measurements are given first and the imperial measurements in brackets.

I immediately noticed that the baking dish spelled it "centre," and Americans certainly wouldn't spell it that way. I haven't analyzed enough to see any other details.

It may need some SAFFRON.

Oh man, I wasn't expecting to laugh so hard at, "the third of Dodecember" Thanks for the much needed mirth!

Thank you for taking the time to celebrate American Pi Day as it is a holiday near and dear to my heart. It's the cholesterol, you see. Anyway, I look forward to your video for international Pi Day in Dodecember as well international Iomar day that celebrates the beloved Nintendo character.

British Pi Day would actually be 22/7, that's pi approximation to the second decimal digit

I usually use a mix of Granny Smith and Honey Crisp apples, pre-cooking half of each in order to have some of the filling be soft while the other have still has some bite to them, and use a mix of butter and shortening in the crust. (oh and use ice cold vodka in lieu of water in the crust)

when you were talking about apple varieties, apple growing is hard they vary so wildly you have to do so many specific things to make sure you get your specific variety and flsvor and everything, its such a weirdly complex fruit to grow the way you want

Happy Pi day! Observation: In the US, we would just call it pie crust, not short crust

Forgot to add copious amounts of vegetable shortening to the short pastry. Not truly American without a proper divorcing from whole foods.

The "American Apple Pie" dish also uses the word "centre" which is not how we spell it here in the states.

Saw this video two weeks ago and had a nagging feeling to make such an apple pie myself. Today was the day! followed your video again during my attempt and the result was a great success. Very tasty would pie again

I am Canadian, so our apple pie is very similar. I come from the Maritimes, and there is a saying, "Apple pie without cheese is like a kiss without the squeeze." They either put a thin layer of cheddar on the bottom crust before the filling, or it is served alongside the pie. I do like the crunchy sound of that crust....I'm impressed!

Furthermore, some units like fluid ounce are different between imperial and US customary even having the same name.

That really is a very fine pie!

We don't have "cooking apples" at the grocery store. But certain varieties of apples are considered better for cooking.

I'm an American and a math teacher, so I appreciate you making a video just for me. I don't really care for apple pie, though, but I chalk that up to my American apple pie experience largely being pre-made pie filling tipped into a pre-made crust.

hello I love this video I love all of your videos! I have a weird question I would love to make this pie for my nana but she has celiac disease which means she can't have gluten would it be possible to recreate this pie with gluten-free flour?

Love the American version, although I can't wait for the European version of this apple pie!

"shortcrust" pastry is not a term common in the US.. likely it would say, 1 recipe pie dough.

We do have cooking apples in the US. They are a bit bitter to eat raw but cooked with a little sugar they are actually good.

An American recipe would never user the term "gashes". It would say "slits"

As an American, that looks like a perfect apple pie on this pi day!!!!

The 14th month is actually Octember.

Just dropped by to say if you will consider doing the technical videos again. I discovered your channel last year from that keyboard video you did long back, and I was hoping for more technical content ever since.

Absolutely adore home made apple pie, just like how you have done it, but I would blind bake & then glue the pastry top with some jam.. the sound of that crust.. OMG I so want some now lol

interesting take on it. As others have pointed out, we typically use granny smith apples. The crust is not sweet either (for an amazing pie dough vodka is used!). On a side note, our butter comes in sticks and is segmented out by tablespoon sizes. Even more side note, the shape of the stick of butter is different if you are on eastern US or western US and sometimes in the middle you can find both.

It’s a good day when Atomic Shrimp uploads!!

Cornflour instead of Corn Starch was the first thing that caught my American eyes as the pie plate not being American.

From northern Virginia; about 15 years ago Apple choices were red delicious, green granny smith and golden delicious. Typically onpy green apples would be reserved for apple pie since they are quite tart and crisp. Now there are about 25 varieties I each grocery store all mostly sweet apples although most are quite large with honeycrisp apples each over a lb apiece. Bags of apples are also sold and these apples tend to be smaller and typically come in fuji, gala, and sometimes pink lady varieties. Honeycrisp are good but very expensive with individual apples about $2-$3 each or more depending on size. I've seen apple pies made with any apple, and adjusted to taste.