What Is the Proper Number of Slices for a Pie?
There are many potential right answers to that question — and even more wrong ones. Plus a new Inconspicuous News Roundup!
This being the holiday season, we are currently in the midst of what I like to think of as Peak Pie — the time of year, running from Thanksgiving to New Year’s, when pie consumption is at its highest.
Peak Pie brings with it many questions: Which type of pie is best for a given holiday occasion? Should the pie be served warm or at room temperature? Unadorned, with whipped cream, or à la mode? Eaten with a regular fork or a dessert fork? And, of course, how many slices should the pie be cut into?
The answer to that last question can depend on a lot of parameters. For example, it might be reasonable to cut a smaller-diameter pie — one made in an 8-inch pan, say — into a mere six slices, while a 10- or 12-incher would probably merit eight or even 10 slices. Other variables, such as the number of guests or the type of occasion, can also come into play.
But there’s an additional X-factor that had never occurred to me until recently, when my friend Norb Rozek posted an epic Facebook treatise that had Inconspicuous Consumption written all over it. It began with the photo shown above and proceeded like so:
ME: I would very much like to cut two pieces of blueberry pie. I would like the blueberry pie divided into sixths for this purpose. This will require three cuts: one at 12 and 6 o’clock, another at 2 and 8, and a third at 4 and 10. This will provide approximately 16.67% of a full blueberry pie per slice. This is the ideal amount of blueberry pie to consume at one sitting.
ALSO ME: Yet the number of cooling vents sliced into the top of the blueberry pie is five, not six. This suggests a cutting arrangement whereby the blueberry pie is cut into fifths, not sixths. This would provide approximately 20% of a full blueberry pie per slice. That amount of blueberry pie is surplus to my requirements.