Austin's Neshoba County Fair Peanut Pie

I Am From Here

We really love pecan pie in my house (if you couldn't tell by the number of them we've made on the channel already), and this looked similar, so I decided we'd try it. It's a little more labor intensive, because you start by making a syrup from Coke. That took me much longer than the recipe suggests, but I think it was worth the effort.

In a bit of a twist, the recipe calls for lightly salted peanuts, so you really get a sweet and salty mix in every bite. The cayenne doesn't make it spicy, exactly, but you get just a touch of the feeling of heat in the back of your throat. I would recommend not leaving it out unless you are very, very sensitive to heat. My kids didn't complain

You can find the full recipe here: https://www.kcrw.com/culture/shows/good-food/two-buck-chuck-vishwesh-bhatt-white-house-food-conference/i-am-from-here-cookbook

Captions

[00:00]: [Music]
[00:04]: hello and welcome to cooking the books
[00:07]: with Heather today we are working once
[00:09]: again from vishweshbots I am from here
[00:12]: and we are going to be making an
[00:15]: interesting pie I've never seen anything
[00:17]: quite like it
[00:18]: but uh it is called Austin's Nashoba
[00:23]: County Fair peanut pie so it's named
[00:27]: after his former pastry chef uh
[00:31]: Austin agent uh and he came up with this
[00:34]: and it is if you are
[00:36]: from the south uh at least in my area
[00:39]: and I think probably most of the South a
[00:42]: uh a thing that a lot of people did at
[00:46]: some point especially working on farms
[00:49]: was to have a soda a Coke or an RC Cola
[00:54]: is the one that I've heard of mostly and
[00:56]: they would pour their peanuts in it and
[00:58]: then have like a little drink and a
[00:60]: snack sweet and salty all together so
[01:03]: that's what this is a take on
[01:06]: and I'm going to be making a double
[01:08]: batch of this
[01:10]: uh we're going to be making a cola syrup
[01:13]: so I'm making a double batch because I
[01:16]: plan to make another pie for later this
[01:20]: week for pi day but if it doesn't turn
[01:21]: out I might
[01:23]: choose to do something different
[01:26]: but I might as well go ahead and make a
[01:28]: double batch of this anyway
[01:30]: um
[01:31]: so we've got regular
[01:33]: soda here not uh
[01:37]: sugar-free not a diet or a zero
[01:41]: um
[01:43]: I think I've not tried it but I don't
[01:46]: think that that would
[01:48]: get as syrupy and be quite right for
[01:50]: this
[01:51]: if you try it please let me know in the
[01:54]: comments down below
[01:56]: um I would love to to know what happens
[01:59]: if that works
[02:01]: um
[02:04]: flavor wise it would be fine but I don't
[02:06]: know that it would work
[02:08]: you know as far as the texture the
[02:11]: thickness of it
[02:13]: so
[02:15]: pretty sure these small bottles are
[02:18]: equal to a can yeah so
[02:21]: I just couldn't find I found the tiny
[02:24]: cans but not the other cans so we got
[02:26]: bottles
[02:27]: so
[02:30]: as you can see I am pouring these into
[02:34]: my Saucier
[02:38]: and
[02:40]: we are going to
[02:42]: put this on the stove
[02:45]: and we are going to
[02:47]: turn it on he says low heat
[02:50]: I'm gonna go sort of not as low probably
[02:53]: sort of a medium low
[02:55]: and slowly reduce it to a syrup stirring
[02:59]: occasionally he says it'll take 30 to 40
[03:01]: minutes I think that is especially at
[03:03]: low heat
[03:06]: uh
[03:09]: a little a little
[03:11]: um low I think it's going to take a lot
[03:13]: longer than that but I'll let you know
[03:15]: how long it takes me and we'll be back
[03:19]: when this is all done
[03:21]: to finish making this pie
[03:24]: it has been uh
[03:27]: 50 minutes and it is
[03:30]: barely done anything so I have turned
[03:32]: the heat up
[03:33]: to medium and we will see what happens
[03:36]: my Cola syrup took
[03:42]: more than two hours probably to take a
[03:45]: picture I don't have access to that
[03:46]: right this minute but we are going on I
[03:49]: think three hours now from when I
[03:51]: started it so about two and a half hours
[03:52]: it's still warm I think that's okay
[03:55]: it's not hot but still warm it did not
[03:58]: even really boil until I went a little
[04:00]: bit above medium on my stove
[04:03]: and then it started it reduced without
[04:05]: boiling but very very very very very
[04:07]: slowly
[04:09]: it went a lot faster once I got it to
[04:12]: a little bit a little bit above a simmer
[04:14]: like a very very slow boil and I think
[04:17]: that's okay and nothing ever it didn't
[04:19]: burn it was it was fine
[04:22]: anyway so we're ready to make our pie
[04:25]: um I have already got the pie crust
[04:28]: uh in a nine inch pie pan pie plate
[04:32]: mine's glass is sort of a normal size
[04:35]: not have a larger one that
[04:37]: tends to take up
[04:39]: like we'll use a lot more filling I'm
[04:41]: hoping this one will be fine because he
[04:43]: did say you can use like a store-bought
[04:46]: nine inch and he does say nine inch and
[04:48]: that's what this is should be fine I'm
[04:50]: hoping
[04:51]: um I will go ahead and link up here that
[04:54]: pie crust that I've already made and uh
[04:57]: so you can go follow that for the crust
[04:60]: it is not part of this recipe as I
[05:02]: believe I've already said but now we're
[05:04]: going to do the filling
[05:06]: um
[05:08]: we have some peanuts these are lightly
[05:12]: salted roasted peanuts and we're going
[05:15]: to put them in an even layer on the
[05:19]: bottom of the pot this this crust is
[05:21]: completely raw it hasn't been docked
[05:24]: um
[05:25]: hasn't been par baked
[05:30]: there we go so we have our layer of
[05:33]: peanuts that we are supposed to try to
[05:36]: keep on the bottom in a layer when we
[05:38]: pour the stuff in we'll see how that
[05:40]: goes
[05:42]: and now
[05:44]: um I need
[05:46]: some eggs
[05:49]: large eggs just that's what I usually
[05:52]: have on hand are the
[05:54]: large size
[06:01]: go I'm gonna get rid of this and clean
[06:03]: my hands a little bit because I got very
[06:05]: eggy okay so to lightly beat these
[06:15]: here we go give us a little beading
[06:19]: um and now
[06:25]: we have
[06:27]: some sugar just plain granulated sugar
[06:33]: it's a lot of sugar
[06:36]: especially since we're also adding
[06:38]: syrups
[06:41]: this is my favorite tool to use to
[06:44]: measure things like corn syrup
[06:48]: there we go
[06:54]: lucky I had enough
[06:57]: so we're going to add
[07:00]: this here
[07:08]: um
[07:09]: I'm gonna use this also to measure my
[07:11]: Cola syrup even though so
[07:16]: although this is not quite as syrupy and
[07:19]: it is still very warm so it might
[07:23]: as it cools
[07:27]: get thicker but
[07:32]: yeah made almost exactly the right
[07:34]: amount
[07:35]: oops and I have made a huge mess now
[07:40]: oh well
[07:48]: that's my oven it is heated to 350
[07:53]: degrees
[07:56]: I wanted to go ahead and get this mixed
[07:58]: up a little bit so the eggs didn't
[08:02]: uh
[08:04]: cook with the warm syrup although it
[08:06]: wasn't super warm I think it's fine
[08:09]: we have some melted unsalted butter
[08:15]: I'm gonna also put in here
[08:36]: we're going to put in some cayenne now
[08:39]: there is
[08:40]: more than I would have expected in this
[08:43]: recipe but that's okay
[08:46]: yes that is my dry side now
[08:54]: that's just
[08:56]: cayenne pepper
[08:59]: some vanilla
[09:11]: there we go
[09:13]: got a little skola syrup on my
[09:18]: counter but I will clean up in just a
[09:22]: minute all right so then we just
[09:25]: mix this up
[09:27]: um
[09:28]: he's just a stir well to combine
[09:32]: so there we go
[09:39]: okay so we are supposed to
[09:42]: oh I took away my spoon that I was going
[09:44]: to use
[09:48]: he says we're supposed to either
[09:49]: uh spoon or gently pour the filling so
[09:54]: I'm gonna try spooning it and we'll see
[09:56]: I might gently pour we'll see what
[09:59]: happens
[10:13]: I think these are going to float up no
[10:15]: matter what
[10:21]: they're gonna float
[10:29]: the peanut layer is supposed to remain
[10:31]: intact on the bottom but I have never
[10:34]: had that happen with all the pecan pies
[10:36]: that I've ever made but they all turn
[10:39]: out fine
[10:41]: um because
[10:44]: just the nature of the solids is to
[10:49]: as it Cooks to distribute evenly on the
[10:52]: top
[10:53]: and that's what the picture has as well
[10:56]: so I'm not too too too worried about
[10:60]: this this is sort of oh
[11:09]: just about super full
[11:11]: there we go
[11:13]: so I'm definitely going to be
[11:16]: [Music]
[11:17]: putting this on a tray
[11:20]: but we're going to bake this in our 350
[11:23]: degree oven oh that does have a little
[11:24]: bit of kick from the Cayenne
[11:27]: so we're going to bake it in a 350
[11:30]: degree oven for
[11:32]: 60 to 70 minutes or until the top is
[11:37]: just set so I assume it will be a lot
[11:39]: like a pecan pie and hopefully I will be
[11:42]: able to
[11:44]: tell relatively easy that it's done or
[11:47]: not
[11:48]: so we will see you in
[11:51]: about an hour and I'll let you know
[11:54]: exactly how long it took for me
[11:56]: and uh we'll tell you what we think
[11:59]: about it
[12:00]: be right back okay so I have uh cooked
[12:03]: it for 70 minutes plus an extra 10 and
[12:07]: I'm going to call it done now
[12:09]: so still a little wobbly but not super
[12:12]: wobbly and it only in that last 10
[12:15]: minutes or last five minutes really
[12:18]: started to
[12:20]: um
[12:21]: sort of weep out the side here you can
[12:24]: see it's it overflowed a little bit then
[12:26]: but other than that not too bad uh
[12:30]: now we have to let it cool for at least
[12:33]: like 20 or 30 minutes before we can eat
[12:35]: it he says to serve it with uh vanilla
[12:39]: ice cream and if you have any extra Cola
[12:43]: syrup
[12:44]: with that on top as well so
[12:47]: uh I'm happy the crust looks brown but
[12:50]: not too Brown not burnt so I think we're
[12:54]: just going to call it good
[12:56]: we'll let you know what we think in just
[12:57]: a minute
[12:58]: [Music]
[13:05]: on this episode of cooking the books
[13:06]: with Heather you watched me make
[13:07]: Austin's Nashoba County Fair peanut pie
[13:11]: from vishwesh Bots I am from here
[13:14]: cookbook so uh
[13:18]: I liked this pie but I think that
[13:21]: it was a little bit
[13:25]: I think this the the Cayenne was was
[13:28]: something you're either going to really
[13:29]: like or really not like uh it wasn't
[13:32]: spicy but it I kind of felt it at the
[13:34]: back of my throat
[13:37]: um and I think for me I like
[13:41]: a pecan pie that's sort of a thinner
[13:44]: uh thinner recipe rather than a thick
[13:47]: one with a lot of
[13:49]: the the
[13:52]: filling underneath a layer of nuts
[13:55]: because that's what happens you get a
[13:57]: layer of nuts on top and then the sort
[13:59]: of filling bakes underneath it
[14:01]: um
[14:03]: I prefer a thinner one and so I
[14:06]: did try I made another batch more like a
[14:11]: a bar cookie but that kind of failed
[14:15]: due to other problems my crust didn't go
[14:19]: up far enough and so the filling went
[14:20]: underneath and it was just all the thing
[14:23]: um but I think that cooked a lot quicker
[14:26]: and was easier to tell that it was set
[14:29]: up this one I think I needed to cook it
[14:33]: a little bit longer
[14:34]: to get it to set up it was not quite set
[14:38]: up and it definitely needed way more
[14:40]: than
[14:41]: 20 to 25 minutes to be ready to cut to
[14:45]: be you know cool enough to cut even
[14:47]: though you're going to serve it with ice
[14:48]: cream As He suggests it needed a little
[14:51]: bit more time than that to
[14:53]: um
[14:55]: to rest to be
[14:58]: not soupy when you cut into it because
[15:00]: it really needs to to cool down to set
[15:03]: um when it was after we put it we put
[15:06]: the rest in the refrigerator and then
[15:08]: after that it was a little bit more set
[15:10]: but I still think it could have used a
[15:12]: little extra time
[15:14]: um
[15:14]: I also feel like the cola syrup was not
[15:19]: quite syrupy enough maybe had a little
[15:21]: bit too much water still in it even
[15:24]: though I did cook it down to the right
[15:25]: amount
[15:27]: um I just think it wasn't quite syrupy
[15:30]: enough uh and and towards the end this
[15:33]: pie started getting a little bit of
[15:37]: uh it seemed like liquid coming out and
[15:40]: sort of separating and I'm not sure if
[15:42]: that's why but
[15:45]: it was certainly an interesting pie and
[15:47]: I will I may make something like this
[15:49]: again uh with peanuts instead of pecans
[15:52]: I would probably try to adapt it to to
[15:55]: more like the pecan pie recipe that we
[15:57]: like that is thinner and the pecans are
[16:00]: sort of cut up more
[16:03]: um
[16:04]: so I might chop them more than just you
[16:07]: know having the whole peanuts in there I
[16:10]: think that would we would prefer it that
[16:12]: way but
[16:13]: uh all in all it was not as really
[16:15]: difficult pie to make it was just a
[16:18]: little bit
[16:19]: I think it's something you're either
[16:20]: going to love or you're going to hate
[16:22]: so
[16:24]: um if you enjoyed watching me make this
[16:25]: please give me a thumbs up hit the
[16:28]: Subscribe button
[16:29]: share this with your friends and let me
[16:31]: know if you've tried a pie like this
[16:33]: before in the comments down below
[16:35]: and come back and watch me make
[16:37]: something else next week
[16:41]: thank you