Is it possible to cut the first piece of a pie intact? How?

The pie is delicious, still warm, but the first piece resembles a cobbler. Again. What to do?

It’s because it’s warm. Once cold it’s pretty easy to cut neatly.

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But cold pie is pie. Warm pie is PIE!

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Depends on the pie, but I personally like room temp best for fruit pies and you can always warm up slices if you like.

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Good sized knife with a sharp blade and a cake slice for lifting. Generally works for me whether the pie is sweet or savoury. Of course, if the filling is quite moist - say a steak & kidney pie, or rhubarb, then you’re going to get oozing

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Years ago I owned a small wedge-shaped piece of aluminum that went into the pan under the crust before baking…you cut the pie and the wedge allowed you to lift out the first piece.

Like most things like that, it performed far better in theory than in reality…if I remembered to use it, it left the crust in that spot badly underdone and still only made a vaguely pie shaped piece

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Yes. This.

But I also agree that one needs the tools for the job. If one is without the cake server, it becomes vastly more difficult to evacuate that first slice cleanly.

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We had cheese & onion pie for dinner. Pies bought from the farm shop. It was very oozy. No tool could have brought elegance to it - so it was straight in with knife & fork. It oozed over the green beans that were next to it. It was delish.

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Sometimes the only way out is through! Sounds fabulous!

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No, it isn’t possible.

Which is what makes pie so wonderful.

I am always suspicious of perfectly cut and manicured slices of pie.

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It does not bother me. The server gets the pile rather than a slice. To make a slice, however, it helps to have a pie plate with a wide rim and little slope. Mask any imperfections with ice cream, if it is fruit pie.

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How perfect does it need to be?

Cooled, sharp knife, pie server is usually enough for me.

If you want to get anal about uniformity, there are slicing guides/templates. You can even bake a thin metal pie lifter into the pie and cut around it before lifting the first slice.

For warm pie I would use a serving spoon to scoop out all that goodness.
You can go all the way down and do it in small portions.
If the pie is at room temperature, I agree with the comments upthread easy peasy.

Serving pie too warm to slice is an act of lust, not gastronomy.

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Then I will happily confess that I am a flagrant sinners because a warm pie is a wonderful thing.

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Easy! Cut three slices, remove the middle one with a wedge-shaped pie server. It’s an engineering issue.

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Do you not slice pie when it is warm? That is a true pity !

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It’s not a choice between warm and cold. It’s the question of whether it’s too warm to slice and serve. Same with cake.

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I let my pie rest when it comes out of the oven yet still make a mess of the first piece. And do use @Vecchiouomo trick with ice cream or if it is apple pie then I “lipstick and mascara” with cheese.
I think I’ll try @greygarious suggestion of slicing 3 pieces of pie and removing the middle piece because that’s pure genius.

P.S. I also serve apple pie Ă  la mode.

We just demolished a cherry pie. It was not very thick as neither of us is a big fan of corn-starchy glop. So we had to serve it with a serving spoon and eat it from soup plates. No big deal. I love cherry season.

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