No crust no pie

No one made a better pie than my mother.  But I used to be good too, and was often asked to bring one to a family get together or church pitch-in.

This is the only pie crust I know, and I think it was Mom's. 1/3 cup of shortening to 1 Cup of flour. 1 tspn of salt to 2 cups of flour. 6 TBSP of water for a 2 crust, and 3+ a smidge for 1 crust. So for 2 crust: 2/3 c. shortening, cut into 2 cups of flour with 1 tspn of salt. Add by sprinkling 6 tablespoons of water, mix very lightly and press and roll half of it out between two pieces of plastic-wrap. Lift the top piece, place the pie pan over the crust, and flip. Scrunch down the crust, put in the filling, and roll out the other half for the cover. Got it? Most of the time now I make a crust with peanut oil, but I don't think it is as good as Crisco. Doesn't stay flaky. I've never used butter.

I never knew Mom to use margarine as one of my nieces does. Mom  used lard in her glory days of the 1940s and 50s until it fell out of favor, then switched to Crisco, and then later in life when watching cholesterol or something, she changed to oil (which is why I tried it) and she always complained it wasn't like Crisco. There must have been some years of pie baking that I missed. I've even tried baking the bottom crust a little before I fill it, and it still isn't like I remember. I had a gas stove until 2002, and I can't remember when I started complaining about it. Our daughter makes a beautiful crust, and never comments on mine which are sort of slapped together. Hers are a work of art with little cut-outs.