My hunch, if it was central VA and a BBQ place, was that it wasn't a pate sucree or something similar. It was probably an "American" pie crust. You can make a great flaky crust in about four minutes with butter, flour, and a little ice cold water. Can add a pinch of salt if you want. Leave some pretty large chunks of butter and make sure you do the fraisage. Like always, let it sit for an hour or so or even a day before rolling it out. Most likely based on cost and region, they probably used shortening, but don't. It tastes bad and makes your crust have a bad mouthfeel. Just use butter. Bake it well, maybe weighing it down, and make sure you bake it very close to the time you are going to use it. In other words, don't bake it today for use tomorrow or the next day. It's never as crisp as it is the first day. Let it cool, fill and serve immediately. The water from the filling will start to soften it right away, so you don't want to let that sit if you want to maintain the crispiness. This post was edited by rosesinny on Mon, Feb 18, 13 at 17:57

Bruce, I blind bake my pie crust for pumpkin pies all the time. I also precook the filling as stated below, works like a charm... don't remember where I came across the recipe, as it's been years that I've been making it this way. The ingredients are very similar to Libby's Famous Pumpkin Pie recipe, but the procedure is different, which I prefer.. Pumpkin Pie (1) 9"pie Prepare blinded baked 9" pie shell. · 2 cups evaporated milk · 1 - 15 oz. can pumpkin · 3/4 cup sugar · 1/2 tsp. salt · 1/4 tsp. ginger · 2 tbsp. cornstarch · 1 tsp. cinnamon · 1/2 tsp. nutmeg · 1/4 tsp. cloves · 2 egg yokes · Whipped cream In a large pot, place all the ingredients together-- except egg yokes -- & bring to slight boil all the until thick, approximately 15 minutes, stirring so no lumps will form. In a small bowl, temper the egg yolks, pour a little of the hot liquid over the egg yokes & mix well, then add to the hot mixture. Pour pumpkin mixture into a blind baked pie shell & bake for 15 min at 350. Cool and top with whipped cream Lucy

Sorbets. Which? SORBET AU CABERNET 1 1/2 c Sugar 1 c Chilled fresh lemon juice 1 1/4 c Cabernet Sauvignon 4 Garnish peeled & sliced thin -kiwi 1 c Water 2 lb Red seedless grapes (Makes about 1 quart.) Combine sugar, wine and water in saucepan and simmer 5 minutes, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Chill. Crush grapes* in processor, then squeeze through cheesecloth to obtain 2 1/2 cups juice. Add grape and lemon juices to syrup. Process in ice cream maker. Arrange kiwi fruit and scoops of sorbet on individual dessert plates. Best made within 24 hours of serving. *Can substitute green seedless. Blackberry Cabernet Sorbet Recipe Ingredients: 1 pound blackberries (fresh is best, frozen is OK) 1 cup cabernet sauvignon 1/2 cup sugar 1 teaspoon lemon juice Turn this recipe into a puzzle! [click] Directions: Puree the blackberries, then put the mixture through a sieve to remove the seeds. Combine the strained berry juice, wine, sugar and lemon juice in a saucepan, and cook over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved. Freeze according to the directions for your ice cream freezer, or place in a shallow pan in the freezer. If your freezer is too warm to get the sorbet to harden, substitute water for a portion of the wine in your next batch. This recipe from CDKitchen for Blackberry Cabernet Sorbet serves/makes 4

What struck me about the recipe is that it has a lot of fat in proportion to the flour. That makes it easy to roll out. The Cooks Illustrated bulletin boards have a lot of discussion about this recipe. (You don't need a subscription.) This idea was new to me: they tested and found that flakiness comes not from flattened fat but from uncoated flour and water. That's why the last bit of flour is added late. I have always cut in fat until there is no uncoated flour. Any plain flour-water paste seems undesirable. Maybe I'll try it with my regular recipe.