A few weeks ago I got into a disagreement with my partner. I had been thinking about the fact that in the Mid-West it is commonplace to place a slice of cheese on an apple pie. My understanding is that the cheese melts and provides a nice mix of savory and sweet, as well as some textural oddities (I have not tried it, just heard about it and seen videos of people trying it).
“Well,” says I, “assuming that combination works, perhaps there are other similar combinations that might work. Maybe with breakfast food and such?”
“What do you mean?” says she.
“Like you could put a fried egg on a piece of fruit pie,” says I, only being as serious as I usually am. “It should work, by the same logic.”
“No,” she says. “That’s disgusting.”
Never one to escalate things, I took the discussion to the internet and posted a poll on the Facebook page for our joint podcast, fully expecting the world to unanimously side with her.
Much to my surprise, the topic of “fried egg on fruit pie” proved much more divisive than I had anticipated. Of the 23 votes cast, a mere 57% said “No. That’s disgusting,” while 43% were visionaries who understood that “Yes! That could work!”
“Haha!” says I. “I have been vindicated!”
In a totally unforeseeable way, this backfired on me.
“Okay, then,” she says. “We made a strawberry pie the other day, and we have eggs. Why don’t you try it.”
“Ah,” says I.
We had some friends round shortly afterwards and I was egged on (as you might say). So try it I did.
And you know what?
It was pretty good.
Do I now want a fried egg on the top of every slice of strawberry pie I eat? No.
Would I have it again and recommend it to others as something a little different that blends surprisingly well? Sure. We should all be a little adventurous from time to time.