A fried pie contest is a part of this year's FoundersFest Festival in Red Bay on September 18th. As I pondered the thought of who might enter and who might win, I could almost taste the goodness of such pies.

The memories of amp"pies from my pastamp" cause my mouth to water. The failures I have had in my futile attempts to make such pies cause me to call out to Paula Deen for help.

I like to cook, so you would think if I can turn out some of the more complicated recipes from Paula Deen's cookbook that I could make fried pies that wouldn't spread open during the cooking process. Well, I can't.

After I mix the dough for the crusts, roll it out and add the filling, I use every suggestion given to me by the good cooks in my family as to how to be sure my pies won't amp"open their mouths.amp" To date, none of the suggestions have worked.

Scrambled dough and dried apples bubbling on a cookie sheet or sizzling in a skillet are not good substitutes for fried pies. Neither does such add a decorative touch to the walls and ceiling of the kitchen, but that's another story; one that could be called amp"LaVale's Exploding Pie Saga.amp"

My mother, both my grandmothers, all my aunts and many of my cousins are proficient at making fried pies. They were a staple in lunch boxes back in the day.

Now those plain old fried pies are considered a delicacy. Ruble and I were at a fund raiser last Saturday night and a box that contained 14 fried apple pies brought $40 at auction. I'm sure they were worth every penny.

For fried pies to taste as good as they should, they must be sweet enough. Mom had the amount of sugar to add to dried fruit down to an exact amount; not too sweet, but sweet enough to be tasty.

At one time, dried apples and peaches were the usual ingredients for these little amp"half moonamp" pies. Now fried pies are made in all flavors with all fruits and mixtures of filling. All have one thing in common. They are delicious.

Fried pies made with a filling of chocolate, sugar and butter were, for many generations, a favorite in lunch boxes. They were so rich they would cause one to see seven stars and so tasty sometimes the pie didn't make it past morning recess.

If a fried chocolate pie was going to be a part of my school lunch, Mom made it when she cooked breakfast. The pie was allowed to cool before being wrapped in wax paper and placed on the bottom of my lunch box. My sausage and biscuit was placed on top of it. A thermos of milk stored in the top of the lunch box made it a meal worth eating.

I won't be entering the fried pie contest this year at FoundersFest. They don't have a category for amp"scrambled dough and fruit.amp"

LaVale Mills is publisher of The Red Bay News, P.O. Box 1339, Red Bay, AL 35582.