Do you have a recipe for strawberry rhubarb pie that isn't runny/watery?

No. But…what if you stewed the Rhubarb seperately and then skimmed it out of it’s juices before adding? It is the culprit, over the Strawberries for extra water.

I can give you a recipe for my apple/blackberry pie though. lol

Where’s Kardamom?

My brothers girlfriend had perfected one since my brother seems to love strawberry rubarb pie, I can try to get the recipe.

Make a custard and stir Strawberry and Rhubarb mixture, Steep Rhubarb for six minutes in boiling water, off the heat. Strain off water from Rhubarb. Then mix strawberries and custard. Place in pie crust. Cook until custard is done about 50 minutes.

Mix more flour and butter in the sugar mixture. It should help thicken it. I don’t know how watery yours is. Mine are tolerable and they thicken up when they cool.

Also, for out of this world pie, put orange skin shavings into it.

I would suggest giving up the strawberries.

Strawberries don’t taste good cooked anyway. The only way to get them not watery in a pie is to use a boatload of thickener, and then the pie just tastes like jello.

The best rhubarb pie I evar made was rhubarb custard. For the filling, take 1 lb rhubarb, halve it lengthwise, then chop it (I also skin some of the fibers). In a bowl, whisk together 2 eggs, 1 cup sugar, and two tablespoons flour. Stir in the rhubarb.

There’s your filling for a double crust pie. Cut four slits on the top crust and bake at 375 for 55 minutes. Cool four hours.

It’s surprisingly delicious for such a simple recipe. But of course, make sure you use a good crust recipe.

@wundayatta That sounds delicious. Do you have to shake the orange tree to get the shavings, though? ; – P

I’m afraid that pie is not my forte. The first pie that I ever made was for Thanksgiving last year and it was pumpkin. I know that Marie Callendars makes an apple rhubarb pie, maybe if you added apples to your pie, that would help to thicken it up.

walking away in shame for not having a good answer for a food question

As @Tropical_Willie said, the rhubarb is the culprit. Stew it ahead of time in very little water and drain most of the liquid out, put in the strawberries uncooked. Sugar to taste, dabs of butter (optional) and use cornstarch as the thickener (amount should be indicated on the box but probably about three tablespoons). That ought to do it.

@janbb I’m agreeing with the corn starch. It is a great thickener.

I am not fond of cornstarch as a thickener. It works, for sure. But there’s something glutinous about the way it thickens that I don’t like. I prefer flour which thickens in a grainier way. Well, I don’t think that word captures it very well, but it’s all I can come up with.

Thickening is a tricky business, because you don’t want to go too far and have your pie taste store-bought. All store-bought pies use cornstarch as a thickener, and they just become treacly, I think.

You want something (or I want something) that thickens while still leaving the fruit as the star of the pie. Sometimes you can use the crust as a way compensating. Maybe put a little sugar in, but better yet, some ground almonds. You may want to use European butter in the crust—if you make butter crust.

But, aside from the challenge from your mother, I’d rather have runny pie than cornstarch in it.

The custard method is something I’ve tried on occasion. I’ve used an egg and cream cheese in the mixture. If it’s apples, I use some port, too. I’m not sure I’d use port in the rhubarb pie, but there might be some other liquor—maybe an orange liquor—that would fit. Yeah, I think Grands Marnier or Triple Sec would go well in a strawberry rhubarb pie.

I think I used the egg-port-cream cheese thing in the “best pie ever” I made once. This compliment came from a good cook, too, so I was a bit shocked. But I’ve stopped using it for the moment. Going back to basics. Which works, too.

Our strawberry and rhubarb season is a month over, now. It lasted maybe three or four weeks. Those seasons go by so fast. Blink, and they’re gone. But I love those local strawberries that seem to concentrate strawberryness into a tart art. They go bad in two days, so you’ve got to use them instantly. You can put them in the fridge, but they change and get dampened, somehow.

Anyway, one for your mouth and two for your pie. Sugar it for sweet or tart—really isn’t a bad idea to be spare on the sugar. Depends on your taste of course. But set a rhubarb pie in front of guests, and you can see their mouths drop and the saliva drip onto the tablecloth. It is one of the most rewarding experiences a cook can have.

I’m not a fan of cornstarch as a thickener either – usually I just macerate the rhubarb and strawberries for several hours before making the pie. You can make the resulting juice into a sauce (add a little butter and reduce in a saucepan). Then add the thickened sauce into the pie before baking. You keep the flavour, but there’s much less moisture. It’s a Rose Levy Beranbaum trick. Or you can use the juice for anything else you like.

I usually do not use cornstarch as a thickener in most pies but in a case like this with a very runny pie, I would. I agree that the result can be “diner pie” but a way to avoid that is not to use so much. However, the other ideas listed above sound very good too. Experiment! One can never make too much pie!

If you insist on using strawberries and a thickener, I always use ground minute tapioca in my fruit pies (per CI). Grind it in a coffee grinder until it’s a powder. Use it in place of cornstarch.

I don’t like cornstarch’s viscosity; reminds me of bad Chinese food sauce.

@Qingu That’s a great idea.

@Qingu why does grinding it help? I’ve seen many recipes that call for minute tapioca, but none of them say to grind it to a powder.

Because if you don’t grind it, the balls of tapioca don’t fully dissolve into the filling.

P.S. You can clean out your coffee grinder fairly easily by grinding up some regular white sugar until it’s a fine powder. Sugar is hydroscopic and will absorb the coffee residue. Thus will you pave the way for your tapioca-grinding.

@Qingu Wow! Thanks for 3 awesome tips!

Don’t thank me, thank Cook’s Illustrated!

And Cook’s Illustrated, if your’e reading this, you should pay me money for shilling for you guys.