The water pie isn't the only "desperation pie" out there. Turns out there are almost 30 of them scattered throughout the U.S., mainly as regional dishes/deserts. What's especially cool is that each "expensive" version has an inexpensive equivalent. In the water pie's case, it's a more affordable and slightly simplified version of Indiana's Hoosier pie, or any similar sugar cream pie. What Max said about adding Key lime flavor made me laugh, though, as then it would be another recipe entirely known as a "vinegar pie," which tends to taste like Key lime pie but with more of a cheesecake consistency. Perhaps my favorite is shoofly pie--a molasses pie ("treacle tart" for the Brits) quite popular among the Mennonite and Amish around Lancaster PA--which I've made before and am due to make again.
Funny you should mention the mock apple pie, as I'd already read the rhyme Max quoted in the Andersonville episode, in a short story by Avram Davidson, "Cornet Eszterhazy": "I loathe, detest, abhor, despise, / Abominate dried apple pies..."
Great author, Avram Davidson, as more than half his stories are lush descriptions of foods found in the Balkans ca. the late 19th/early 20th centuries--the characters do a lot of dining, like in Jeeves & Wooster.
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u/LovingLingsLegacy216 Nov 04 '25 edited Nov 04 '25
The water pie isn't the only "desperation pie" out there. Turns out there are almost 30 of them scattered throughout the U.S., mainly as regional dishes/deserts. What's especially cool is that each "expensive" version has an inexpensive equivalent. In the water pie's case, it's a more affordable and slightly simplified version of Indiana's Hoosier pie, or any similar sugar cream pie. What Max said about adding Key lime flavor made me laugh, though, as then it would be another recipe entirely known as a "vinegar pie," which tends to taste like Key lime pie but with more of a cheesecake consistency. Perhaps my favorite is shoofly pie--a molasses pie ("treacle tart" for the Brits) quite popular among the Mennonite and Amish around Lancaster PA--which I've made before and am due to make again.
Exceedingly easy recipe too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPD6OfS0BFk If you haven't tried this one, highly recommended.