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

I like parchment best because it can be folded up easily to transfer the crust and with a little flour the crust won't stick. This is probably redundant, but to make great pie crusts, just make more! In other words, practice! Then you will know the deep, dark secrets of the pie world. The reason cooks like the vodka recipe is because it is so forgiving. With butter/shortening crusts, the dough Must be kept cold at all times. When the dough starts to even get close to room temp., I slide a cookie sheet under the parchment and pop the whole mess in the freezer. As I cut out leaves, or whatever decoration I want on top of the pie, they go on a plate to be popped in the freezer immediately. The cold, cold, cold thing can't be underemphasised with regular pie dough (butter, shortening or lard) Cracks are ok, warm is not. With the addition of the vodka, however, something magical takes place. the dough can be rolled out a little warmer, it becomes like play dough, and has no cracks. It is satisfying and easy to work with. But when cooked, the vodka evaporates and creates those beautiful layers and flakiness. If you used regular pie crust and rolled it out warm, you would get leather. All that said, I still am obsessed with keeping pie dough cold. Very cold. Cracks can be turned under for the crust. I always make about 3 times more dough than the recipe calls for, I want lots of wiggle room. The dough can be frozen anyway so it doesn't go to waste. (make a disc, wrap in lots of plastic and a freezer bag) However, I experienced the real beauty of the vodka dough one day when I let the dough get crazy warm. I was sure the crust was ruined. But it turned out great! Flaky, and just as perfect as using stiff, cold dough.

Thank you, thank you, Nancy. Now wish me luck! Brenda

The pie crust pouch looks like it would work well. I had a terrible time making pie crust for years. I won't go into detail on the various problems, but I was a total failure with pie crust. Until Nancy posted her recipe and now I only have problems with 2 crust pies. The upper crust is what gives me problems now but my Mom suggested to freeze the dough for the upper crust and then grate it over the pie. The grated frozen dough makes an interesting top crust and it works wonderfully. I now make so many pies that I always have a recipe of Nancy's Pie Crust in my refrigerator ready at all times. Single-Crust with Vodka (Nancy) Vodka is essential to the texture of the crust and imparts no flavordo not substitute. This dough will be moister and more supple than most standard pie doughs and will require more flour to roll out (up to 1/4 cup). 1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (6 1/4 ounces) 1/2 teaspoon table salt 1 tablespoon sugar 6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter (3/4 stick), cut into 1/4-inch slices 1/4 cup chilled solid vegetable shortening , cut into 2 pieces 2 tablespoons vodka , cold 2 tablespoons cold water 1. Process 3/4 cups flour, salt, and sugar together in food processor until combined, about 2 one-second pulses. Add butter and shortening and process until homogenous dough just starts to collect in uneven clumps, about 10 seconds (dough will resemble cottage cheese curds with some very small pieces of butter remaining, but there should be no uncoated flour). Scrape down sides and bottom of bowl with rubber spatula and redistribute dough evenly around processor blade. Add remaining 1/2 cup flour and pulse until mixture is evenly distributed around bowl and mass of dough has been broken up, 4 to 6 quick pulses. Empty mixture into medium bowl. 2. Sprinkle vodka and water over mixture. With rubber spatula, use folding motion to mix, pressing down on dough until dough is slightly tacky and sticks together. Flatten dough into 4-inch disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 45 minutes or up to 2 days. 3. Adjust oven rack to lowest position, place rimmed baking sheet on oven rack, and heat oven to 425 degrees. Remove dough from refrigerator and roll out on generously floured (up to ¼ cup) work surface to 12-inch circle about 1/8 inch thick. Roll dough loosely around rolling pin and unroll into pie plate, leaving at least 1-inch overhang on each side. Working around circumference, ease dough into plate by gently lifting edge of dough with one hand while pressing into plate bottom with other hand. Leave overhanging dough in place; refrigerate until dough is firm, about 30 minutes. 4. Trim overhang to ½ inch beyond lip of pie plate. Fold overhang under itself; folded edge should be flush with edge of pie plate. Flute dough or press the tines of a fork against dough to flatten it against rim of pie plate. Refrigerate dough-lined plate until firm, about 15 minutes. 5. Remove pie pan from refrigerator, line crust with foil, and fill with pie weights or pennies. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove foil and weights, rotate plate, and bake for 5 to 10 minutes additional minutes until crust is golden brown and crisp. Notes: I do not add the 2 TBL of water. And I do add extra flour until the dough is the right texture to roll out. Michelle