Blue Ridge Country September/October 2021 - 87

FLAVORS
CLOCKWISE FROM FAR LEFT: * Folks line up outside the
door for fried pies at the Lord's Acre sale in Hiltons, Virginia.
* In Hiltons, the garden-clearing relish called chow-chow is a
prized commodity.
* Andrea Roberts Lawson is the chief gravy maker at the Lord's
Acre Sale.
* Money from the Lord's Acre Sale is helping to fund the Life
Center at Hiltons Memorial United Methodist Church.
" Gravy is our drug of choice here in Hiltons, " she says
with a characteristic laugh. " We love our gravy. We've
sold out today. "
Lawson and a fellow church member put their first
skillet on at 6:20 on the last Friday morning in September.
By about 10:15, they have made 10 gallons of
gravy.
" We start with the grease from Swaggerty's sausage,
then add flour, salt and pepper, and let that brown. I say
burn the paste taste off of it, " instructs Lawson.
Lawson adds whole milk, the chopped, cooked sausage,
and lots of black pepper. Some people in the region
prefer a whiter gravy, but Lawson says she likes hers a
little darker. White or brown, " It's just a way of life here.
It's a lifeline, " she says, as she ladles gravy over a hot
biscuit.
For church members Lisa Faust and Carla Spivey,
their Lord's Acre Sale niche is making fried pies.
In the days when some cooks take fried-pie shortcuts
using Bisquick or already prepared biscuit dough, Faust
and Spivey don't compromise. Their dough is the real
thing.
" This is a dough that we found online, " says Faust.
" But it has been fabulous. We love it. It's got lots of butter
in it, so it's fragile. "
In fact, the pie fryers had to find a cooler room to
work with the temperamental dough, which is made a
day early and kept cold.
Spivey says the mixture of butter and Crisco creates
an especially flaky dough, aided by a little touch of apple
cider vinegar.
Despite its sensitivity, church members make about
90 batches of dough, enough for 750 fried pies, filled
with blueberries, raspberries, apples and peaches. People
line up out the door for them.
If there's a Fried Pie Belt, Scott County, Virginia, is
pretty close to the buckle. People in this mountain community
know their fried pies, and many still use blackiron
skillets to make them. The long lines at the Lord's
Acre Sale are testament to both the talent and the tradition
that combine to make a good fried pie. But the taste
of a crimped, fruit-filled pie, so hot you almost can't handle
it, isn't the most compelling reason to attend the sale.
Rather, it's the coming together, especially now, since the
2020 event had to be scrapped because of COVID-19.
" This is the social event of the year in Hiltons, I think, "
says Carla Spivey. " But these ladies work so hard. "
Adds Lawson, " This is such a blessing for what comes
out of it-seeing people you don't see often and making
new friends. Some of our former pastors come by. "
The flavors of the fall harvest and the fellowship that
takes place at Hiltons Memorial are savored and remembered
until the next sale comes around. And a building
debt is lessened along the way.
Jill Sauceman, a native of Hiltons, Virginia, and her husband
Fred celebrate and document the foodways of Appalachia
and beyond from their home base in Johnson City,
Tennessee.
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2021 87
Blue Ridge Country September/October 2021

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