bake -- August 2013 - 40

Nicole Rucker (far left) joins professional division

The Perfect Pie Story

winners on stage at the APC Crisco National Pie
Championships, where she won for her Perfect Pie.

Baker and restaurant manager Nicole Rucker is on a mission to

One of her favorite stops on the cross-country tour was Pie

tell the story of the perfect pie, which is ironic because she won

Town, NM, which is smack in the middle of desolate land about

ﬁrst place in the Perfect Pie category in her ﬁrst attempt at

100 miles southwest of Albuquerque.

competing in this year’s American Pie Council/Crisco National
Pie Championships.

The story behind the original settlement of Pie Town was that,
in the late 1920s, weary travelers heading to California in search

Starting a cross-country journey in April, she and friend Casey

of a better life during the Great Depression were sold pies by

O’Brien, an aspiring documentary ﬁlmmaker, drove 3,500 miles

an enterprising man named Ed Jones, who would walk seven

to document the story of pie makers in the “Southern Pie Belt,”

miles from his homestead to a dirt road along the Continental

as Rucker calls it, prior to her competing in the national pie

Divide trail where he offered his pies. Soon a friend joined and

championships April 26-28 in Orlando, FL.

they sold supplies like oil and tires.

They began in Los Angeles, where Rucker works as baker and

Eventually a four-room motel was built with a kitchen that

general manager of Gjelina, a popular restaurant in Venice, CA.

became the ﬁrst pie café. “There are literally three buildings

Joining them on the “perfect pie tour” were their producer, their

on the freeway, and two of them are pie shops,” says Rucker,

photographer and Rucker’s husband who drove the van. What

who cherished meeting Kathy Knapp of Pie Town’s Pie-O-Neer

they captured on their week-long road trip proved to be a

café. “We were so lucky that we stumbled across the right

genuine slice of American pie culture sprinkled with a spoonful

people. Pie Town was really a special place.”

of Southern hospitality.
As their travels continued, they made stops in Oklahoma, Texas,
“What I learned along the way, as I asked each person for their

Louisiana and Alabama. Everywhere they visited, they were

advice on pie making, is don’t change a thing. Trust your gut,

greeted with enthusiasm, hospitality and great stories. Pie

and do what you are most proud of,” Rucker says. “It was such

proved to be the perfect conversation starter.

a pleasurable experience.”
Upon arriving in Orlando for the national pie championships,
Now she and O’Brien are putting together the pie documentary,

Rucker got to work gearing up for the competition. She’d

funded by a $12,000 fundraising campaign through Kickstarter,

brought with her all the baking ingredients she needed,

which could be completed by next year. Rucker is also chroni-

including Black Arkansas and Golden Delicious apples for

cling their journey on her blog at www.nicolemournian.com (her

the sweet portion of her apple pie recipe and Pink Lady

maiden name is Mournian).

and Granny Smith apples for the tart ﬂavor.

40 < AUG 2013 | bakemag.com
http://www.nicolemournian.com http://www.bakemag.com
bake -- August 2013

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