Pot Pie vs. Dutch Baby (Kaiju Style)

Have you ever noticed how the insides of a pot pie are like the hottest substance known to man? Seriously, you may think it’s cooled down enough after you’ve blown on your first bite for a few seconds but don’t make that mistake, I beg you. You could melt steel in that pot pie. It’s like molten lava. The earth’s core. I promise you, if you ever want to taste again do not even think of eating that thing until it’s rested at least twenty minutes. Yeah, I know it’s a long time to wait but trust me, you’ll thank me.

Now that I’ve got that public service announcement out of the way we can get down to the real subject of this blog. If a Pot Pie and a Dutch Baby were Japanese Movie Monsters (kaiju) who do you think would win?

The Pot Pie like I’ve said does have a molten core, and it’s crust could, I guess, be compared with armor plating. In a way it looks like the kaiju Gamera, that turtle like creature that flies through the air like a pinwheel, shooting fire from the leg holes in its shell.

The Dutch Baby is not nearly as intimidating. The fact that the word baby appears in its name sort of takes the edge off any potential fearsomeness. Dutch Babies are kind of like a thick pudding. They’re soft and doughy, and they puff up when you cook them. Their real danger I guess lies in the amount of butter floating on their surface. It can get pretty hot and it has the real potential to cause serious health risks. All in all though, with a light sprinkling of powdered sugar, some fresh berries and maple syrup the Dutch Baby can’t really hold a candle to the Pot Pie. Of course it’s a totally different kind of creature.

The Dutch Baby is more on the order of Mothra. Its’ sort of mystical. It’s something worth revering, an object of wonderment and delight.

A Pot Pie is more something a Bulgarian weight lifter would eat before a competition. It’s dense and terrestrial. Solid peasant food made from the scraps of other meals.

When I presented my wife with this question, when I explained how I thought the Pot Pie was like Gamera and the Dutch Baby like Mothra she immediately shot down my metaphor pointing out that both the monsters I’d chosen were in fact good guys and would therefore never fight one another. They were more likely to take turns fighting on the same side. Say the Dutch Baby attacks at dawn and the Pot Pie follows in the second wave at dusk. The tandem would be certain to triumph over any appetite, no matter how large or pissed off.

I guess the obvious question then isn’t who would win in a fight between the two, but how do we employ them both to fight on our side.

Let’s begin with the Dutch Baby since technically it’s a breakfast food from the pancake family. Derived from the German Apfelpfannkuchen the Dutch Baby was developed at the Manca Café in Seattle, Washington during the first half of the last Century. Victor Manca was the proprietor and head chef at the Manca Café and is credited with creating the Dutch Baby. The name was purportedly coined by his young daughter, and the restaurant held a trademark on that menu item for several years during the forties. Sunset Magazine popularized the dish sometime in the fifties when it featured Manca’s recipe in its pages. The recipe I have comes to me by way of my Romanian Grandmother (may she rest in peace) who lived her entire life near Geneva, Ohio, fifty miles East of Cleveland and thirty miles from the Pennsylvania boarder. I’m not sure where she got her hands on it but it has more the ear markings of a pound cake from early Colonial America than a single serving pancake made at a West Coast Café. My Grandmother’s recipe serves twelve and requires a pound of each of its four ingredients.

First you preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Then find your largest metal pot (avoid anything with plastic handles or anything that is not completely oven safe), cast iron or stainless work best, add one cup of butter (yes that is all four sticks) and place the pot in the oven until butter is completely melted and bubbling. Do not brown the butter. It just needs to be really, really hot.

While the butter is melting beat twelve eggs in a large bowl until they are mixed evenly and smooth but not frothy. Gradually add three cups of milk and three cups of flour alternating about a cup of each until blended smooth. Mix in one tsp vanilla.

By this time the butter ought to be about right. Pull the pot from the oven and pour in the batter. Return to oven and cook about twenty minutes or until the Dutch Baby has risen substantially and browned around the edges. Remove from oven and sprinkle generously with powdered sugar. At this point you’re on your own. A lot of people like syrup with their Dutch Baby. Some like fruit or berries and if your feeling really decadent you can whip up some cream and dab it on top. I prefer mine with raspberries or blackberries and a little maple or agave syrup. I also serve this with some kind of side meat, either sausage or bacon. Its pretty dense though so you won’t need much else.

If you aren’t trying to feed an army (I once made a Dutch Baby for a crew of nine that consisted of 18 eggs, a cup and a half of butter and four cups each of milk and flour) then you can easily adjust the recipe down to your needs. Most of the time I third the recipe for my wife and I.

Dutch Baby for Two to Four

1 stick butter plus 2 tbsp.
4 eggs
1 cup milk
1 cup flour
1/3 tsp vanilla

You’ll likely still have leftovers but a Dutch Baby keeps pretty well unrefrigerated so if you’re spending a lazy Sunday afternoon at home it can be picked at throughout the day.

Dutch Babies are awesome. Delicious, filling and with the word Baby in the title kind of sinister sounding. They easily rank amongst my favorite foods and are a dish that will impress any guest or relative. Try it out sometime. When somebody asks what you’re having for breakfast tell them a Dutch Baby and see what kind of reaction you get.

Pot Pies don’t exactly have the same wow factor of a Dutch Baby but I think that’s primarily because when you tell someone you’re eating pot pie they naturally think of some crappy freezer burned Swanson abomination. Pot pies have gotten a bad rap over the years because they tend to resemble cardboard both in appearance and taste and have really been neglected by scratch cooks and homemakers because they assume they’re too hard and time consuming to make. It’s really too bad because there’s nothing quite as satisfying and delightful as a homemade pot pie. And one of the best features of pot pie is that it is a great dumping ground for leftover meat and vegetables from other meals. On this particular occasion I started with fresh ingredients but you really can incorporate a lot of things that you find hanging around in your fridge. We do a lot of veggie sautés and if we don’t end up eating them all they can find themselves in the garbage a week later. It’s best when possible not to cook too much of something that is no good cold or reheated, but mistakes happen and when you find yourself with a pile of stuff that no one is going to eat you can always throw it in a soup or a pot pie.

Chicken Pot Pie from Scratch

Two Crust 10-inch Pie Shell (refer back to T-minus Two for recipe and instructions)

Spice blend

1 tsp black pepper
½ tsp white pepper
1 tsp salt
1 ½ tbsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp dried basil
½ tsp dried thyme
½ tsp dried sage

Filling

2 cooked chicken breasts (chopped or shredded)
1 large onion (chopped small)
2 medium carrots (cubed ½” X ½”)
3 medium potatoes (cubed ¾” X ¾”)
4-5 cloves garlic (minced)
Family Size can of Cream of Mushroom condensed soup
7-8 oz. Canned Young Sweet Peas (about half a can drained and rinsed)
¼ cup chicken broth (or ¼ cup retained pea juice)

Blend spices in a small bowl. As an alternative to the sage, thyme, basil and white pepper you can use about two tablespoons of poultry seasoning. It won’t be exactly the same but it’ll still be pretty good. Don’t skimp on the spices. They’re expensive but they really make the meal. If anything I’ve low balled some of these measurements so the only thing you need to watch is that you don’t get too heavy handed with the salt or the pepper.

For my pie I used the leftovers from a whole fryer we ate a day or two before. I carved off a leg and thigh, both wings and one breast picking the rest of the bird clean of usable meat. Skin and gristle should probably be discarded unless you’re into that sort of thing.

In a large bowl mix together the Spices, the Raw Veggies, the Cooked Chicken and the can of Mushroom Soup. Add enough of the Chicken Stock (or pea juice - it sounds gross but I kind of like the juice from canned veggies, it’s salty like urine) to make the mixture smooth but not soupy. Don’t be alarmed if the mixture smells a little bit like wet cat food, this is normal. If you’ve ever worked with Mushroom soup before you’ll know what I’m talking about. Once you’ve found your desired consistency gently fold in the peas so as not to mush them.

Pour mixture into the pie shell, add a little salt and pepper on top and close up with the second shell.

Place in oven on center rack and cook at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 and cook approximately one more hour. The smaller you cut your veggies the sooner they will be tender. If you like bigger pieces allow for a longer cook time. Watch for over browning of the crust edges. These may burn. You can avoid this by making a foil ring and placing it gently around the edges of the pie. They sell a metal ring specifically for crusts and they’re only a couple bucks but they aren’t necessary (disclaimer: I have two of them).

Once you feel the pie is sufficiently done pull it out of the oven and let it rest on a wire rack or on one of the burners on the range. You should give it about twenty minutes to a half hour to cool before you cut into it. It’ll be kind of soupy so be prepared to spoon it out.

With this meal I don’t really serve anything else. You’ve pretty much got all the basic food groups covered but if you feel like your plate is kind of naked I guess a salad with a little tomato, onion, green pepper and a favorite dressing would suffice.

Enjoy. And for godsakes have patience. Don’t go burning your mouth. Remember the Pot Pie and Dutch Baby are here to help you. They are our friends.