I did it! I finally unlocked the secret to Strawberry Rhubarb Pie – or at least, I’m as close as humanly possible to a foolproof method for getting the filling just right. Not too thick, not too thin, juicy but firm, and bursting with sweet/tart fruit flavor.
Let’s start with a reality check: fruit pies can be tricky. This strawberry (or blueberry, or peach) can be much juicier than that one. Many recipes give a range for the cornstarch (or other thickener), but that still means you have to roll the dice based on how juicy you perceive the fruit to be when it’s raw, and you never know for sure that you’ve used the right amount until after the pie is baked. You learn from experience, and you accept that this is just the way it is with fruit pies, so you let yourself off the hook for those times when you misjudge your fruit and your pie is imperfect. Because, please – it’s homemade pie. No one will complain if the filling is a little runny, and it will still be the best thing you get to eat all month.
Strawberry Rhubarb Pie is so notorious for excessive juiciness, it’s often described as “soupy”. Anyone who’s ever made one knows the feeling of lifting out that first slice and seeing the entire contents of the rest of the pie flow out into the space left behind in the dish. I’ve tried increasing the amount of cornstarch, but I have to admit I’ve done it timidly – I would rather have a pie that’s too juicy than one that’s overthickened, with a gelatinous, sticky texture. So I “suffered” with soupy Strawberry Rhubarb Pies for years. Until this one.
Before this pie, I’d never cut a slice of Strawberry Rhubarb Pie so neat and beautiful in all my life. And yet there’s nothing gluey or goopy going on with the filling at all. The strawberries and rhubarb are suspended in syrupy juices that gently bind the filling together with an almost pudding-like softness.
So, enough with the suspense, how did I do it? I used a very standard amount of cornstarch for the amount of strawberries and rhubarb in this pie: 4 tablespoons. My secret actually has nothing to do with the amount of thickener at all. The trick is to use rhubarb that’s been frozen, then thawed and drained. When you thaw frozen fruit it sheds a lot of liquid, and most pie recipes will tell you that if you’re using frozen fruit, you should add it to the pie while it’s still frozen, so you don’t lose all that juice. But in this case, excess juice is not your friend. After thawing the frozen rhubarb, I drained it in a sieve over a bowl for 45 minutes and collected a whopping 1/3 cup of juice, which I discarded. Then I proceeded with my standard recipe, the one that used to produce Strawberry Rhubarb Soup Pie, and the result was sublime.
One more tip for a great fruit pie, before we get to the recipe: fruit pies need to bake for a long time. After the pie has been in the oven for a while, you’ll see the filling near the edge of the pie starting to bubble. You need to keep going well past that point, until the filling close to the center of the pie is bubbling. By that time, the juices at the edge of the pie will be bubbling over, spilling out of your dish onto the bottom of your oven unless you’ve put a foil-lined baking sheet on the rack below to catch them (so, OK this is two tips). This whole thing takes more than an hour to happen, so be patient. The edges of your crust will almost certainly start to get brown before the center is done. When this happens, the easiest thing to do is gently drape a large sheet of foil over the entire pie. (Don’t try to tuck it in around the dish, just lay it loosely across the top. Personally, I never fuss with the kind of pie guard that covers just the edge. My recipe for pie crust dough produces a crust that’s very tender and flaky, and I find that when I try to cover the edge during baking it ends up damaging the crust.)
Prep tips, making this ahead, and what to do with leftovers:
- The most important prep tip is that you must start with frozen rhubarb. If you’ve got fresh rhubarb from your garden or a farm stand, trim it and cut it into 1/2-inch pieces, put them in a zip-lock bag and freeze them for at least one day. Thaw overnight in the fridge, or use the microwave thawing method described in the recipe instructions.
- You can also prep the pie dough ahead. It can be stored in the fridge for a day or two, or frozen and then thawed overnight before rolling out and baking.
- The pie needs to cool completely – COMPLETELY – before you slice it and serve it, which means starting the whole process at least 7 hours ahead. The day before is fine, too. If you bake it the day before, store it in the fridge and – ideally – bring it to room temperature for serving.
- Leftovers will keep 5 days, but only if your willpower is stronger than mine.
Strawberry Rhubarb Pie
Start 2 days ahead if you’re starting with fresh rhubarb, to give it one overnight to freeze and a second night to thaw. Start 1 day ahead if your rhubarb is already frozen, to give it time to thaw overnight in the fridge. If your rhubarb is still frozen when you want to start cooking, use the microwave method described in Step 1.
Ingredients
- 1 pound of trimmed rhubarb, cut into ½-inch pieces (about 3½ cups measured when the rhubarb is fresh), frozen, then thawed overnight
- 1 recipe Pie Dough
- 1 quart (about 1½ pounds) of fresh strawberries, hulled, quartered if large, halved if small
- ¾ cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar, divided
- ¼ cup light brown sugar
- ¼ cup cornstarch
- ¾ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt (or 1/8 teaspoon of Morton’s)
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon heavy cream
Directions
- Step 1 Make sure the rhubarb is completely thawed, with no ice crystals remaining. If it’s not, put it in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave it at 30% power for 2 minutes at a time, tossing in between, until it’s just thawed but still firm and cold. Transfer the rhubarb to a sieve set over a bowl and let it drain while you make the pie dough. (If you’ve made the pie dough ahead, then let the rhubarb drain for 45 minutes before proceeding.)
- Step 2 Make the pie dough, divide it into two disks, wrap and chill it for 30 minutes. Heat the oven to 400 degrees with racks in the center and lower positions. Line a large baking sheet with heavy duty foil.
- Step 3 Measure the liquid that’s drained from the rhubarb. You should have approximately 1/3 cup. If you have significantly more than 1/3 cup, measure off the excess and reserve it, and discard thd 1/3 cup. If you have significantly less than 1/3 cup, press on the rhubarb in the sieve to squeeze out more liquid to reach as near to 1/3 cup as you can, then discard it.
- Step 4 Combine the drained rhubarb with the strawberries in a large bowl. If the accumulated liquid from the previous step was more than 1/3 cup, add the excess above 1/3 cup to the rhubarb and strawberries. Toss everything together.
- Step 5 In a small bowl, combine ¾ cup of the granulated sugar with the brown sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon and salt. Toss the dry ingredients with the fruit until the fruit is thoroughly coated. Set the mixture aside while you roll out the dough.
- Step 6 Roll one disk of the pie dough out to a circle about 14 inches in diameter. Transfer the dough to a 9-inch pie plate, draping the dough in gently without stretching. Roll out the other disk and cut it into lattice strips with a sharp knife or pastry wheel.
- Step 7 Use a silicone spatula to scrape the fruit and all the sugar/cornstarch/juice mixture in the bowl into the bottom crust. Cut the butter into small cubes and scatter them over the filling. Arrange the lattice topping over the filling, either weaving the strips over and under each other or simply laying the strips over each other at right angles. Trim the edges of the crust and the ends o the lattice strips so they extend out 1 inch beyond the plate, then tuck the excess under. Crimp the edges of the crust with your fingers or a fork to seal it.
- Step 8 In a small bowl, whisk the egg with the cream to make an egg wash. Use a small brush to carefully brush the egg wash on the lattice strips and around the edge of the crust. Sprinkle the top of the pie with the remaining 1 tablespoon of sugar.
- Step 9 Put the pie in the oven on the middle rack, and the foil-lined baking sheet on the rack below it to catch drips. Bake the pie for 20 minutes.
- Step 10 Reduce the heat to 350. Bake the pie for 50 to 60 more minutes (about 1¼ hours total), until the filling is bubbling near the center of the pie and the crust is golden brown. If the crust starts to get brown before the filling is done, drape the top of the pie with a piece of foil. (Don’t try to cover the edges with foil while the pie is cooking, the crust will be too fragile and could crumble,)
- Step 11 Remove the pie to a cooling rack to cool completely (at least 4 hours) before slicing and serving.
