Bucktown Apple Pie Contest: My entry

I was one of many contestants this past weekend at the Bucktown Apple Pie contest. I thought I would share some pictures of my pie and I hope that anyone else who participated will do the same.

Unfortunately, I do not have any in progress shots as I was too busy trying to get done in time, but I do have pictures of my finished "Savory Apple Pie with Bacon and Braised Pork"

Essentially, this pie had apples tossed with various spices and a bit of brown sugar on the bottom, then a thin layer of applewood smoked bacon and then on top a generous helping of apple cider vinegar braised pork shoulder. The whole thing was enclosed in a crust made with leaf lard (thanks to Mike G)



This is my appearance pie.




This is my tasting pie after the judges got through with it.



Both of the pies together.

I have to say that the contest was a lot of fun, even though I didn't make it out of the first round. I'm looking forward to trying again next year.

Who ran the event? How many entrants were there?

http://www.friendsofholsteinpark.com/ev ... apple_home

Gutsy!!! It looks so good!

The combination of ingredients sounds very interesting. Would you mind sharing what the pie tasted like - any other kind of pie that we could compare it to? Was it intended as a dessert pie or a savory pie? The mxture is in some ways reminiscent of Canadian pies and some medieval recipes I have seen which frequently combine fruits and meats.

It was intended to be savory although I did add a bit of sugar to the apples and the apples themselves added some sweetness to the pie. However, it's essentially a pork pot pie.

The best way to describe the taste is just to think of pork braised with apples enclosed in a savory pie dough (no sugar added there).