Apple Pie à la Mode (On the Side)

Serve when

Serve it exactly to spec: 'the pie heated, and I don't want the ice cream on top, I want it on the side... and if not, then no ice cream, just whipped cream, but only if it's real.'

In the movie

Theatrical

00:08:43 The diner on the drive to New York: Sally delivers her legendary high-maintenance order — apple pie à la mode, heated, ice cream on the side, strawberry instead of vanilla if they have it, whipped cream only if it's real.

Harry says it first: "On the side is a very big thing for you." Sally's order is the character in one paragraph — everything just the way she wants it — and the film's sneaky argument that being particular about food is a form of knowing yourself.

Ingredients

For the apple pie:
6 tart apples
¾ cup sugar
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
a squeeze of lemon
a double butter crust
1 egg, beaten, for the glaze
Vanilla ice cream — served ON THE SIDE
Real whipped cream, as the fallback, but only if it's real

Method

Toss the apples with sugar, flour, cinnamon, and lemon; pile into the bottom crust.
Lid with the top crust, crimp, vent, and brush with egg.
Bake on the oven's lower rack at 425°F for 20 minutes, then 375°F for 40 more, until deep gold and bubbling — the low rack is what keeps the bottom crust crisp.
Rest at least 2 hours — a sliceable pie is a heated pie's prerequisite.
Warm each slice before serving, and set the scoop of ice cream beside it, never on top. She's right, incidentally: it stays crisp that way.