Meal No. 363: Moravian Chicken Pie

When I first got out of college, I came to Winston-Salem to take a job as assistant to the president of the Baptist Retirement Homes of North Carolina. A number of my colleagues at the Baptist Home (like the Director of Nursing and the Activities Director) were Moravians (it was the Moravians who founded Salem, you see). They turned me on to Moravian Chicken Pie, a hearty helping of cooked chicken cooked in a bit of broth and flour between two pie crusts. This was also about the time I was introduced to the Dixie Classic Fair, held here at our fairgrounds each October just ahead of the North Carolina State Fair. Some of the Moravian churches sell their chicken pies at that fair, which is how I used to get them before I learned to make them myself.

Moravian Chicken Pie

Several years ago, my good friend Cindy Coulson (who was raised Moravian) got me hooked up with "Cooking with Grace," the cookbook from Grace Moravian Church in Mount Airy that her mother attends. That's how I learned to make Moravian Chicken Pie for myself.

The fair is again in town, and it's made me think about those darned pies quite a bit, and that's why it was this evening's supper. Sometimes I remember to make the gravy that goes with it; tonight was one of those times.