bookcooker: The Help and A Chocolate Pie

The Help by Kathryn Stockett is a literary phenomenon. Over and over when I spoke with friends about the blog, they enthusiastically recommended that I feature "The Help" and make a chocolate cream pie. I was intrigued that so many people recommended the book - it must be the #1 book club this year - so was happy to find a copy at my summer house in Maine (thanks cousin Susan!) I thought the book was great, an accessible and emotional story about race in the South in 1960's. While I really liked it, part of me wished that a book that dealt with race issues today was so popular. Such a book would obviously have a lot more edge, and would stir more controversy. This book, because it was set in the 60's, even though it dealt with real issues, was uncontroversial. The book is told from multiple perspective, and anything that gets you thinking about an issue from multiple angles is a good thing. Anyone who has read the book knows that the chocolate pie is part of a great story in the book. I wouldn't want to give anything away, so won't say anything more about it, other than this pie is just chocolate and cream, nothing else ; )

The Help is about the relationship between African-American maids and the White women whose homes they work in Jackson, Mississippi. The story takes place in the early 1960's, just as the civil rights movement is gaining momentum. The book book is told from multiple characters perspective. First, (in my opinion) the real heart of the book, Aibileen, a maid that works in the home of Elizabeth Leefolt, a young wife and mother. Ms. Leefolt was clearly a sorority girl somewhere and she is extremely conscious of climbing up the Jackson social ladder. She is completely indifferent if not disgusted with her young baby girl, Mae Mobley. She is a difficult and unpleasant employer. Aibileen has been a made for many years, she must be in her 50's. She recently lost her teenage son and is still heartbroken and mourning. In response to Ms. Leefolt's indifference, Aibileen showers Mae Mobley with love and teaches her she is smart and beautiful. The second narrator is Skeeter Phelan, a sorority sister of Ms. Leefolt, but different from her as could be. She is unmarried and ambitious, with a desire to be a writer or editor. Skeeter is tall and gawky and has a tense relationship with her mother. When the book begins, Skeeter has recently come home from college to find that her childhood maid, the woman who raised her, Constantine, is gone, and her family will not explain what happened. Skeeter gets a job at the local newspaper writing a column on housekeeping. Problem is, she knows nothing about it, so she begins talking to Aibileen for help with her column. Then, Skeeter gets a call from an editor in New York at a publishing house she had applied for a job with. The woman, Ms. Stein, counsels Skeeter that if she is serious about getting a job as an editor or being a writer, she ought to write something, and write about something she knows. Skeeter on the fly tells Ms. Stein she wants to write about the experiences of black maids in the South - women who work for white families for years and raise their children. So starts the main point of the book - Skeeter then enlists Aibileen and the third narrator, Minny, to tell their stories to her for the book at great personal risk. Minny starts the book as the maid to the mother of Hilly Holbrook, another one of Skeeter and Ms. Leefolt's sorority sisters. Hilly is the wicked witch of this book - she is a villainous character through and through. She is the girl that runs the town, and in particular, the Junior League chapter. She is a racist, plain and simple, and is firmly against the civil rights movement. Minny has a large family to support and is an abusive relationship with her husband. She talks back to her employer and this is what gets her fired by Hilly. Where Aibileen is soft and reserved, Minny is loudmouthed and angry. She eventually gets a job working for a white woman with problems of her own, a poor girl who married rich. Now the author tells the story from the perspectives of Skeeter, Aibileen and Minny and for Minny and Aibileen the author uses a dialect to give life to their voices. She doesn't use this technique for Ms. Skeeter. Stockett has received criticism for her use of dialect for the black characters and not for the white characters, and I must say, the use of it seemed off to me, and frankly distracting. It to me did not bring the characters any more to life. Maybe I am just an overly politically correct Northerner, but I did not like that feature of the book. In addition, while the story certainly was compelling, I found the characters a bit one dimensional and stereotypical - the mean white racist sorority girl Hilly, who was entirely one dimensional, the "sassy" large black woman, Minny, the awkward single bookworm, Skeeter, and the frank Jewish book editor from New York, Ms. Stein. All that said, I certainly enjoyed the book, it just felt a bit like a movie about race they would show on the Lifetime network. While I may enjoy it, I am left wanting something with a bit more oomph.

Chocolate Cream Pie

Adapted from Baked Cookbook

Sadly, the Chocolate Pie I made was not a huge sucess either, I have definitely made better ones before. This one is adapted from the Baked Cookbook, and the problem to me was the crust. It was a cookie crumb crust that was not baked, but frozen instead. Next time I would do a baked crumb crust or actually just go with a traditional pie crust. I think the unsweetened crust would go great with the hyper sweet chocolate pudding filling. That said, just like the book, this pie was pretty great, just not perfect.

Ingredients
Crust
30 chocolate wafer cookies
1 tablespoon sugar
6 tablespoons melted butter
Filling
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup cornstarch
5 large egg yolks
2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
5 ounces dark chocolate, chopped
2 ounces milk chocolate, chopped
2 teaspoons whiskey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Topping
1 cup heavy cream
sugar to taste
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions: For crust, put cookies in food processor and blend until the cookies are a fine powder.

Put the crumbs in a bowl and stir in the sugar and the butter. I skipped the sugar, and as you see, I used full oreos. Mix the butter and cookies until well combined. It will be wet.

Turn the crumb mixture out into a 9 inch pie plate. Pat it into the pan with your hands. Put the crust in freezer.

To make filling: In a medium saucepan, whisk together the sugar, salt and cornstarch Add the egg yolks and whisk until combined. This will look like a paste.

Slowly pour the milk and cream, whisk constantly. Bring to boil over medium heat, again whisking constantly. I didn't which is why this looks so lumpy : ( Boil for 30 seconds then remove from the heat.

Add the chocolate, whiskey and vanilla and whisk until combined. Continue to whisk for a few minutes to cool the mixture. I whiskey for a long time to try to get my custard to lose some of the lumps. Still lumpy.