WCAX.COM Local Vermont News, Weather and Sports-Cable Host Quick Study in Pie Production
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Shelburne, Vermont - September 28, 2008
Freshly baked apple pies, some still warm from the oven, were ready for their close-ups.
The contenders in this year's annual pie fest at Shelburne Orchards didn't just have to please the judges' palates. They had to please the peering eyes of a TV audience. "It's great, it's added this extra buzz," orchard owner Nick Cowles said.
The Food Network is featuring the contest in an upcoming episode of a popular show. "The show's called 'Glutton for Punishment,' and in every episode, I have five days to learn a new skill that revolves around food or wine," explained host Bob Blumer. "And then I enter a professional competition."
Blumer said he had never made a pie before, so he spent the past week at the orchard, learning from the pros. "I learned everything from how to prepare the dough and make it super flaky, to how to prepare the filling and design the top of it," he said. "I churned my own butter. I climbed a few apple trees, and it's really been a lot of fun."
Fun for the show -- and the orchard's owner. "I'm famous!" Cowles laughed, as two photographers, a sound technician and a producer from the show milled around the pies. "It was just a lot of fun, it's been great."
It wasn't all just for fun -- Cowles said contestants take this competition seriously. The TV chef would have to out-bake the locals and impress the judges, including caterer Barb Bardin. "Probably a lot will have to do with flakiness and texture and layers and appearance," she said. "You gotta look good."
Blumer was apparently a quick study -- his first-ever pie took 3rd place. "Before which I had never baked a pie in my life," he said.
The show featuring Blumer's visit to Shelburne Orchards is scheduled to air on the Food Network next spring -- in time to provide some helpful hints for competitors in next year's contest.
Kate Duffy - WCAX News
