Customer Rating: 
Summary: American classic
Comment: This book is perfect. The recipes are basic, unpretentious and they look and taste like a million bucks. I got "Pies and Tarts" from Amazon years ago and it's been a favorite since. Friends have borrowed it so much that it's falling apart.
Stewart's approach is that fruit pies should taste like fruit. They should be easy enough for everyday dining and they should make the most of whatever's freshest and in season. The recipes use a minimal amount of spices. The philosophy is one of restrained, everyday elegance.
The pies here are intended to be shared with friends and family, so there is some focus on presentation and decorative treatments. The fruit itself is showcased in most of the recipes. For the bottom crust plum pie, the crust is just folded inward around the edges leaving a mostly open face, which shows off the plum filling. It's rough, but beautiful.
The all-butter pie crust recipe is the star of the book though. Probably the definitive pie crust, period. The section is generously illustrated with photos so you can see the different stages of preparation, rolling and wrapping. If you've never had a handmade all-butter pie crust, it's completely different than anything you can get at the supermarket.
For traditional recipes with lots of whole fruit, this is a great volume to get acquainted with the essentials of pie making.
My favorite is the green tomato pie - with a little ginger, raisins, lemon and cinnamon. It's gooey, light and surprisingly delicate. I let the tomatoes drain for an hour first though, otherwise it comes out too liquid.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: okay
Comment: it had a few good recipes i liked in there overall it was an okay cookbook
Customer Rating:
Summary: Consistently great pies and tarts
Comment: I've tried at least 7 pies or tarts from this book and found the crusts, contents and compliments consistently excellent. Mom will not return my copy!
Customer Rating:
Summary: I've got a long-term relationship with this book
Comment: I'm a little bit of an oddball in that I've been making pies and tarts since I was in High School, and basically learned how through this book. The basic recipes for pie and tart crusts and glazes, found at the back of the book with step-by-step illustrations, have become indispensable favorites of mine. Martha is a big advocate of using a food processor to ensure that chilled ingredients stay that way, ensuring a tender, flaky crust that's fast and reliable, and I couldn't agree more, especially if, like me, you're working in an unairconditioned kitchen. The recipes for pastry cream and lemon curd are superb. Rather than using specific recipes for tarts, I usually bake one of the crusts (pate brisee, pate sucree or sucree extra or nut), use the recipe for pastry cream found in the recipe for the blackberry tart, and add my own fresh fruit and one of the glazes. Among the individual recipes, the apple raisin pie is a favorite I make every Thanksgiving, the Tarte Tatin is great, and I especially appreciate the recipes using Italian Prune or Friar plums, available in late August / September, my favorite fruit for pies and tarts. I just ate a Pear Frangipane tartlet this weekend, and was pleased to discover there was a recipe for it in this book, and look forward to making my own. One of my only complaints is that the recipes seemingly all use different-sized and shaped pie and tart tins, with no easy formulas for converting recipes to fit what you're using. Also, there's no recipe for a classic pecan pie. However, this book is a classic Martha Stewart effort, with the beautiful photographs and consistently high standards that go with that; it certainly has stood the test of time in my kitchen.
Customer Rating:
Summary: YUCK!
Comment: Well, the illustrations in this book are beautiful and Martha's pie crust, as well as her lemon curd, are absolutely the best, but the pies and tarts in this book are simply the worst I've ever tasted! Really, I've tasted kindergarten paste that had more flavor than these recipes. As a seasoned baker, I do know how to substitute ingredients and add more spice, but why should anyone have to? And what about those who can't? After all, the book is not titled, Martha Stewart's Exotic Pies and Tarts for the Experienced Baker Only, however, it should be. What good is a book if most people really can't use it? Yes, I can make all those lovely grape clusters, leaves and tendrils that adorn Martha's Concord Grape Pie, but I think most people are really looking for something a little more basic. Okay, final analysis: if you're looking for the out-of-the-ordinary (and the tasteless) then buy this book. If you just want some great pie and tart recipes, try The Pie and Pastry Bible. You won't go wrong there.
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