Artisan, much like the word gourmet has been misused and abused nowadays. From frozen pizza to fast food burgers, everything is labeled as gourmet and artisanal. But what is artisan really and what are artisan pies? Artisan, in its truest form, is something that has been created by hand, created by someone who is working on his craft and uses the best ingredients to produce the best product available. For artisan pies, this is just it, a piemaker that uses the freshest local produce for fillings, hand kneads the crust using stone-milled grains, and most of all, make the pie distinct from everything else that is available on the market. It’s not enough to have a fancy lattice on the pie for it to be considered artisan, true artisan pie should be of the best quality in all aspects.
Artisan Pie Trivia
- An artisan is someone skilled in his/her trade and this applies to most products that are made by hand.
- Artisanal is the direct opposite of industrial, so nothing mass-produced can be considered artisan.
- Unlike the term “Organic,” artisan has no set guidelines when used in marketing. Here’s a rule of thumb, if it’s commercial, it’s not artisan.
- An artisan can be considered as a master in their craft.
Artisan Pie Buying Guide
Almost everything sold nowadays has the label artisan and gourmet on it. From fast-food pizza to gigantic franchises offering mass-produced bread, artisan is one of the most overused terms. This is especially true with artisan pies. One peek into the frozen section will show you a wide selection of pies with most of them having the artisan or artisanal as part of their label.
Let’s make this short and sweet. Nothing mass-produced can be called artisan.
For pies, you can only get artisan pies from real artisans who hand make everything from scratch.
Artisan Pie Production & Farming in Texas
Texas, which is home to numerous farmers’ markets, fresh fruit, produce, and big appetites, is also home to a lot of bakers who create honest-to-goodness artisan pies. These are small home-based bakers who dedicate their time to creating artisan pies made with all local ingredients and all the best ingredients. Unlike large commercial producers who make their profits by volume alone, these smaller artisanal pie bakers take the greatest care in baking their pies to ensure that their customer base comes back to them.
This is the true meaning of having artisanal food. Small producers who hand make everything, using the best ingredients available, and taking care to use the proper techniques to ensure that their product is consistent and not resorting to short cuts.
Preservatives, Additives, and Chemicals:
We’ve already established that artisan pies aren’t those that can be bought off of store shelves. Real artisan pies don’t use any preservatives, additives, and chemicals so there’s nothing to go over.
Packaging:
Artisanal pies are usually packed in paper boxes when sold by small and independent bakers. Nothing fancy or mass-produced, just plain pie boxes that do their job and nothing else.
Enjoying Artisan Pies
Since these are artisan pies we’re talking about, these are good on their own as their bakers have made sure that these pies are the best that they can be.
Storage:
Depending on the type of filling, artisan pies have to be stored depending on the type of pie it is. If you have leftover pie, a good rule of thumb is to finish them within a couple of days.
Cooking:
Artisan pies are simply that, artisan. We don’t want to diminish the actual meaning of the word by putting in a recipe that isn’t artisanal. But look at it this way, if you have a pie recipe that you have perfected over the years, using only the best ingredients, then that can be loosely considered as an artisan pie and that’s much better than commercial store-bought pies.