If you didn't already know it, I can be a bit of a kook when it comes to food. I'm clearly thinking about it, sometimes stewing about it, even when I'm asleep. Many times I wake up with either a fully formed food idea in my head, or a food clue rattling around. By now I've learned enough to know that a follow-up in the cold light of morning is usually a good idea.
In this instance, in preparation for Felix's fall break homecoming, I woke up with apple pandowdy on my mind. Not knowing exactly what constitutes a pandowdy, I had a grand time with my cookbooks trying to figure it out. What I learned is that pandowdy is decidedly American, dating from around 1880 and is, effectively, an apple pie made with the crust broken up half-way through the baking and then pressed into the pie filling. This is called "dowdying" in fact.
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