To prepare us for this episode,

I got a delightful strawberry cake,

yeah! - Whoa, look at that!

- Yeah, that's what I'm talkin' about.

- Wow! - Mmm, today, we're doin' pie.

Today on Worth It, we're gonna try three pies

at three drastically different price points

to find out which one is the most worth it at its price!

Which one do you like better, pie or cake, and why?

Create your three paragraph essay,

you can submit it to my Dropbox.

- Okay, here's why I like pie better.

I like pie better because it is usually less sweet,

and I like pie better because there is more contrast

in texture available, period, end of paragraph.

- My turn, food is about sharing experiences,

and what food is better at sharing experiences than cake?

- I'm just saying, more of the time,

I'm more down to have pie.

- I wanna end the debate

without having to get all up in arms.

- Okay, all I wanna do is share some pie today.

- Wanna shake on it? (upbeat music)

- My name's Michael Osborn,

I'm the owner here at Pie 'N Burger.

We are gonna be trying several of our classic

fruit pies today, and we'll feature apple and boysenberry.

- [Andrew] Can you tell us a little bit

about the history of Pie 'N Burger?

- [Michael] Pie 'N Burger started in the fall of 1963.

The recipes are the same recipes that started,

and they actually predated the restaurant.

I've been here 45 years and we do things

exactly the same way that we did when we opened

with a lotta the same ingredients.

- So when you joined,

what was your role with the restaurant?

- I was 18 years old and I was a night cook,

so, uh, yeah. - [Andrew] Really?

- Yeah, so I was in college

at the University of Southern California.

I started working here with the idea

that I would be here a couple years to make a little money,

and then I was gonna go on and be a dentist.

- Wow, and now you're sending people to the dentist.

- Yes, exactly. - How are the pies made?

- [Michael] First of all, it's all about ingredients.

We only use Gold Medal flour,

we only use C&H sugar, and we never use lard,

we use a really high grade vegetable shortening.

So, we knead the dough by hand.

When we make the dough, we like to let the dough sit

for several days and sort of seize up.

All of our pies is almost a full concentration of fruit.

There's no fruit flavors really added to 'em,

no machine, you know, all hand done.

- [Andrew] You only have that one mixer in the back?

- [Michael] We only use it to make a few light toppings,

whipped cream and things like that, we don't use any of it

in our regular pie-making process whatsoever.

- Everything else about the pie is handmade?

- Everything is handmade, we measure out each pie,

we'll put in the exact amount of fruit every time,

and then we'll layer a top crust on it.

The oven that we use here at Pie 'N Burger,

we use a pizza deck oven.

We cook right on the deck surface

and we cook at a little bit slower temperature.

It allows the pie to come in contact

directly with the cooking surface of the oven,

and it cooks the bottom of the shell

so you don't get that doughy texture,

you actually notice a little bit of brownness

on the bottom of the pie shell itself.

- [Andrew] Are you ever asked about

your preference of pie versus cake?

- Depends on the day I guess a little bit.

I have a preference to pie overall.

- Wow, we're gonna go do the pie,

we'll do the burger, that's it, Pie 'N Burger, end of story.

(laughing) - Yes!

(cash register dinging) - Apple pie at Pie 'N Burger.

If we're goin' pie, we're goin' shake.

- That actually looks really good.

- Do you want some? - I'm just gonna,

yeah, I'm gonna take a little sample.

(Steven groaning)

I'm ready to get into this pie.

- Okay. (upbeat music)

- Oooh, look at that, a clean cut by yours truly!

- And look how it holds up, it's not falling apart.

I could really do some gymnastics with this thing.

- Do some gymnastics. (Andrew gasps)

(laughing) (upbeat music)

- [Andrew] Mmmm. - Oh, that tasted real!

(laughing) - Yeah!

- How apples actually taste! - The thing

that makes pie, pie, is the delicious crust.

- Is the end, yes, yep. - A lot of the times

when there's too much crust, it's just dried out.

This is still a delicious, tender,

baked treat just at the end.

I mean, is there anything more wholesome than apple pie?

- Maybe like, goin' to your grandma's house.

- What if she had an apple pie when you got there?

- Oh my god, that's a movie right there!

And the sequel is boysenberry pie.

- [Michael] We heat some boysenberries on the stove

to melt 'em down a little bit.

To get consistency, we use individually quick frozen fruit.

That way we're able to get boysenberries in the wintertime

when it's not necessarily a growing season.

And right now we're getting boysenberries from Chile.

(cash register dinging) - Visually,

ya hafta love a pie with a red filling.

This could be a lighthouse. - Cheers.

Oh, mmm, gimme another bite,

wow, just the right amount of crust.

Pie taco? - Pie taco?

Go ahead, pie taco it.

Oh yeah, I can't understate how perfect

the amount of crust is on this pie.

- Oookay, alright, we did not do this the wrong way, yep.

Pie 'N Burger. - Thank you.

I am literally in heaven. (lettuce crunching)

Oh my god.

- Alright, let's finish up these burgers,

and we're headin' to the road, we're goin' to Houston!

(Steven inhales audibly) You see that bite?

Yo, Andrew! - Yeah.

- Pie fact!

Here's a pie fact for you, we're in Houston.

- And as a little dessert,

we got some sesame balls, ooo! - Whoa!

- Mmm, mmm, mmm, Adam's havin' a good time on the swing set.

- Pie fact, historians believe that early pie doughs,

which mostly consisted of water and flour,

and could be quite thick, were primarily meant

to protect the food inside, and weren't always eaten.

- So pies used to just be semi-edible boxes for other foods.

- That's right. - I'm glad they figured out

how to eat the crust. - Next up,

we're headed to a restaurant called Underbelly.

- Underbelly! - Under my belly.

- We're just gonna have some pie, but not just some pie,

because it is going to be-- - Carrot cake pie!

It's cake pie. - It's a pie with cake in it.

- That's right, we stuck some cake in this episode.

Cake or pie?

Okay, you're off the show!

(funky music)

- My name's Chris Shepherd,

Chef/Owner here at Underbelly in Houston.

Today we're doin' the carrot cake fried pie.

- Is that a cake or a pie? - Technically both,

but it's a pie, fried pie

is just a southern staple around here.

- [Steven] Can you tell us about what pie is in Houston?

- Proverbial question is cake or pie,

right, but here we're pie.

So Underbelly is focused on the story of Houston food.

It's also the most culturally diverse city,

basically the gateway drug to people coming into Houston.

You know, they'll come in and taste something and be like,

"I really like this flavor," and I'll say,

"Well this is Korean, you need to go up on Long Point."

Now, at this point, let's let Victoria kind of show you

and walk you through the fried pie aspect of things.

- I'm Victoria Dearmond, I am the Pastry Director.

I've worked here since Underbelly opened,

almost six years now.

Underbelly's entire premise is about locality.

So, right now it is carrot season.

We've got the carrots, we shred 'em all

and make a very traditional carrot cake.

Then we make the pie crust, unrendered pork fat,

it's basically the fat around the kidneys.

It's much firmer than the outside fat,

so it's kind of, like, protected by meat.

That's the main part of the dough's, the flour,

the unrendered pork fat, some salt, baking powder,

and cold water, just get everything in the mixer.

I try to let it sit overnight,

or at least for a couple hours before I use it.

We'll roll 'em into small balls and roll those out.

So we have our circles,

then we put our cake and cream cheese icing,

fold it up, pinch it around the sides

like a little empanada, and then we fry it.

You always want them to come out GBD,

golden, brown, delicious.

After the pie comes outta the fryer,

sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on top,

then goes on a plate with candied pecans

and kumquat sour cream ice cream.

(cash register dinging) - So we asked the chef

for the recommended drink pairing.

Victoria gave us this lovely Topo Chico,

but then Chef Chris is goin' with the whiskey.

- I love it. - I love it too, cheers.

- I don't know how we should do this,

since it's a hand pie but I'm not gonna hold hands with you,

so I'm just gonna take off kind of like the center chunk.

Oooh, seeing the inside of this makes me go, (slurping).

Here, you have top crusts on both sides,

that's like a win-win. - Ready to eat the pie?

- Yeah. (Steven clicks his tongue)

- That's ridiculously good.

Kind of like a Frankenstein dessert experiment,

but it's not a monster after all.

I don't think there's ever been a real answer to the

pie versus cake debate. - The answer is cake pie.

- Oh. - Oh, there you go!

Mmm, throw in the ice cream with the pie

and you get, like, that citrus-y flavor.

- Having that zing of that orangey kumquat,

it's delightful, what's this?

- [Victoria] Just in case you need more pie.

- What, oh, oh yeah! - This is vinegar pie,

and this is a chocolate citrus pie.

- Oh yeah. (Victoria laughs)

- Oh, this is the best part

of any ice cream accompanied dessert.

My dad will spend 25 minutes goin' like this

with a bowl of ice cream.

Ice cream is like,

the most delicious creamsicle I've ever had.

- Pie break, Chris Shepherd actually advised that we,

while we're here in Houston, try some Viet-Cajun food

because it's the thing to do in Houston!

(energetic music)

- Too busy eating, so here's a fact for you.

- [Voiceover] According to the American Pie Council,

over 180 million pies are bought

at US grocery stores every year.

That's enough pies to circle the globe, with leftovers!

- So now, we're goin' to a place

that serves pumpecapple piecake.

That's right, we had cake pie and now we're goin' piecake.

Pumpecapple piecake. - Pumpecapple.

- Boom, let's go eat some piecake!

It is 8:00 PM right now and I am up!

- Let's get that pie. (singing Twilight Zone theme)