Gigi's Fried Pies


Growing up, Christmas meant one really important thing to me:  Going to Gigi's for Christmas.

Gigi (pronounced with a hard "G" in both cases) was our name for my maternal grandmother.    From where I sit, she was the best grandmother in the history of grandmothers.    Her house smelled like great food and pure love, with a fine undercurrent of great coffee made on the stove with a percolating coffee pot.

Whatever was happening in our world, the touchstone, at least once  a year, was traveling to Gigi's for a wonderful Christmas Eve celebration.

One thing that Christmas Eve at Gig's also meant:   Gigl's homemade fried pies.    We couldn't get enough of these amazing treats, but usually got into plenty of trouble trying our best to do so.    This was only a minor problem, since Gigi could crank them out an an unbelievable rate, and always made plenty and to spare.   This I did not learn until later; she cooked them before we all arrived, and her labors went unseen.   She poured her love for her family into such things, and the comfort and hospitality of her home.    She was never more happy when we were all there and together.  Even without the lens of childhood adoration, I can see her as an incredibly giving person.

My grandmother and her fried pies were very symbolic of family and holidays to me.   As she got on in life, I realized that she and her pies were one of the most important of our traditions (of which there were not enough).    I made up my mind to learn from her how to make  her friend pies.

She came over one day just before Christmas around 1996 or so, toting the ingredients and her special, broken-in-for-fifty-years electric frying pan.    I (thankfully) recorded her teaching me the trade.   It's a good thing - because she'd been doing it so long that there was no recipe.   The ingredients were "About this much flour" and "A pinch of salt" and "a dash of vanilla", and "sugar to taste".   

One thing that must be done the day before the fry fest is the fruit compote - traditionally, apple and apricot.   These are made from dried fruit.    (An interesting not - it used to be no problem to find dried apples in any store - now it's very difficult to find them.    I had to buy the last four packages from Amazon this year.)

I turned the video into a DVD, which is one of my most prized heirlooms.   Every year, we pull it out and watch her teach us again how to bring her back to us for an evening, to feel her surround us and help us make her famous fried pies.   My sons got into the act when they were young, and they pitch right in every year - in fact, they're really in charge of the production now, and better at it than I ever was.    Gary and his fiancee Haley ran the show this year, with Greg in London.

We don't come close to the quality  and consistency (or production level) of Th eMaster, but everyone enjoys the pies just the same.   We don't think overlong on the ingredients - Lard, buttermilk, etc...for one night  a year, damn the torpedoes.    It feels good to watch the family enjoying her pies and thinking of her.


It will do until I see her again.