Chocolate Pie

So this weekend Eric J. made a chocolate pie. Actually, it was his second attempt at a chocolate pie, as he had trouble with the first one.  I think his experience with the two pies is reminiscent of what Laura Shapiro was talking about when she said that cooking takes alot of patience and that it does not always turn out perfectly every time.  Even though the cook may do everything right, the end result may not always turn out as hoped for.  Here was Eric's problem.  Neither one of his pies really classified as pie, they were both more like a sort of pudding. I have to say that I thought the first one was tastier, but that the second set up better.  Perhaps if he had left the first pie to sit longer, it would have had a better chance to set up, but as it was, it was a quite delicious, chocolate-mush.  The second pie, to me, was more of a gelatin-y sort of thing.  I ate it the night it was made and it was like eating taffy, it stuck together.  I think he was trying to compensate for the runniness of the last pie. By morning, it had set up into a very hard though gooey chocolate substance.  

I don't mean to be overly critical of Eric's pies.  I enjoyed eating both of them.  I just see his experience as a great chance to learn and improve.  Now that he knows more about making chocolate pie, I'm sure his future attempts will be more and more successful.  With practice, he could become a chocolate pie master.