(Editor's Note: a shorter version of this article is published in the 2017 edition of Sallie Magazine. This, as they say, is the rest of the story.)

Evora is a midwestern American treasure.

There are few in the county who don't know her pies, which fetch hundreds of dollars at charity auctions and are frequent items at the Newman Regional Health Auxiliary's snack bar.

Enquiring minds wanted to know, so I called Evora up and spent an afternoon with her as she prepared two pies for the Emporia Main Street auction that evening.

Born during the Depression, growing up just south of Emporia, Wheeler was an only child, a farm girl. She remembers the bankers coming to foreclose on the farm.

I still have that memory, Evora said. It's as sharp as can be ... Dad was at the barn, and this nice-looking car pulled up and these two guys in nice suits got out, and I knew. That was hard.

Disaster was averted thanks to Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal program called the Agricultural Adjustment Act.

My dad measured fields. It was the 'AAA' thing, then, Evora said. That's how he earned some money to save the farm.

She remembers learning to milk the cows when she was four, then learning to harness the horses so she could work in the fields.

There were two stalls and there was a divider about so high between them.

She held her hand about three feet off the ground.

And I'd get the harness, drag the harness down off the hook and I'd drag it over. And I'd get up on this divider and throw the harness over the horses, and work in the fields. She chuckled at the memory.

So, yeah, that was a long time ago. Tough times, but we made it through.

Through to a house with electricity and indoor plumbing on West Street. This was after her parents had been married 23 years.

From those origins, Evora built a family, a career in real estate, a legacy of volunteerism rarely seen and a pie that will break open the tightest wallet.

It seems odd Evora would be so well-versed in desserts as her mother was a diabetic.

And she never. Ever. Cheated. Evora emphasized. The nearest she came to it was, maybe once a year, she would eat a piece of angel food cake. But: she made pies for the Sardis church, for dinners and things.

Mrs. Wheeler's pie recipe was learned by rote.

I asked her once how to make the pie crust, Evora said. And she said 'I don't know, I just put the lard in there until it looks right!' Of course, we butchered hogs and had lard back then.

Evora had her eye on a guy who liked pie: Ralph Wheeler. So she asked again.

(My mother) said 'I don't know, I just put some flour in the bowl, and some lard in there and some salt and just kind of mix it.' Evora said

So I finally, after years of trying, devised a ratio. I'd start with flour and half as much shortening, and half as much cold water, and some salt ... and I finally got it right.

A wedding gift of the 1949 edition of Betty Crocker's Cookbook has helped with any other recipe issues Evora may have had since. It's still on her shelf.

THE CRUST

Friend Steve Haught finds the 12-inch disposable pie pans Evora uses for her auction pies. Auxiliary pies are 10 inches, and her recipes reflect the decrease in measurement necessary for that.

She works up the flour, shortening and salt with a pastry cutter until almost pea size.

Some people use an electric mixer, she said. But not me.

Evora uses cold water, as do most pastry chefs, to keep the fat from softening. She uses a spatula to incorporate it a bit at a time and finish the dough, trying to keep movement at a minimum. She finishes with a fork to get all the dry bits into the dough, again trying not to work the dough too much.

It makes it tough, she said.

The final dough was divided into four smaller balls. Covering the other three, Evora flattened one ball into an oval disc, floured each side and began rolling it out with her French rolling pin.

This particular pin she got at the state fair 55 to 60 years ago. It's a simple, tapered, wooden dowel in the French style.

I really like it, she said, because it's graduated out and you can roll to any width you want to.

She continued to build a circle with the pin, her experience allowing her to eyeball the diameter instead of having to use a pie circle or ruler.

The less you work with it, the more tender it's going to be, she reiterated.

To transfer the crust to the pie plate, Evora rolled it up around the pin, using a pastry blade to loosen it from the mat as needed, then unrolled it over the plate. She gently pressed it into the shape, tucking to accommodate the curves as necessary. She trimmed the overages to go back into the dough bowl and even scraped the rolling pin to conserve the dough.

If a tear in the crust does occur, it's easy to patch.

It's forgiving, this crust is, she said. Like I tell people, I don't have any secrets no unusual or magic ways of doing things. Anyone can make them.

Evora began crimping the crust edge, using her forefingers and thumbs.

This is probably not the professional way to do this but this is how I do it, she said.

The edge of the crust is pinched in a decorative pattern, which also gives the sides strength when it is cut. It's fairly high compared to mass-produced crusts.

It's not going to look like that when it gets baked. It will settle down. And I try to pinch it against the edge of the pan to hold it there.

She pricks the bottom and sides of the crust with a fork before baking it, unless it is headed for the freezer for emergency orders. The pie crust pre-bakes for 20 to 25 minutes at 350 degrees.

Some do 375, Evora said. But, for my oven, 350 is what is needed.

There are 15 or 16 different groups that she supports with pies for auction, plus her monthly Auxiliary commitment and Evora occasionally sells her pies by the order at $15.

On our visit, Evora was making two pies for the Emporia Main Street Auction. Then she planned to rise early the next day to make three to go to Newman Regional Health by 7 a.m.

She planned to get up about 3 a.m. to make the Auxiliary's pies. Why so early?

The night staffers get off duty and are ready for dinner, not breakfast, Evora explained.

Ralph always encouraged me and was very supportive, Evora said. Her late husband, who died in August of 2016, preferred custard pies.

Before Ralph passed, he was in a nursing home and she took pies out to him always at least two.

"Now, I said one of them had to be a custard pie, just for him, she said.

Evora doesn't remember how long she's been making pies to order.

I never did solicit business, never, she said. And I suppose I've been making them for fundraisers for, what, 15 years, maybe.

Evora thinks she provides pies for auction to about 16 organizations.

And I can help causes that way, that I could not by giving money, she said. I can make pies and, I guess, they bring anywhere from a hundred to $350 is the most I've heard. Isn't that just crazy?

Crazy good!

I'm just constantly amazed at people calling me and wanting pies, Evora said. I'm not, I'm not any different than anybody else! Now I hope the good Lord let's me keep doing things like this for years to come.

She shared a story.

Many years ago at a zoo event, a dentist I can't remember now, he was at the zoo auction and he bought one, and he paid several hundred dollars for it. And I knew him, I think I was still at the chamber of commerce at the time, so I knew people really well then.

I went over to the table and they were eating it and I said, 'I'm curious. Why in the world would you pay (whatever it was) for a pie?' And they said 'we wanted to help and there wasn't any of the other stuff we wanted.' So, that explained their reason for doing it.

They ate it right there, and I guess that happens frequently. (Bidders) plan on buying one, and I guess sometimes there may be two couples that will buy the pie and then they share it. Whatever! she laughed.

Evora donates the pies for auction. All I can take off of income tax though, is the cost of ingredients, she said. Plus, any Best Choice labels that come along are carefully clipped to be used by her congregation, First United Methodist Church, to help fund church projects.

Her most popular pie is coconut cream, followed by chocolate.

People don't make cream pies. They make fruit pies because they can buy a crust and put some fruit in it and have a pie, but they don't make cream pies, so that's what they ask for, she said Coconut cream, chocolate and lemon.

Not nut pies or even apple?

Not for the auctions, she said. They want cream pies.

Her favorite pie?

"Oh gee, I don't have a favorite and I don't eat many sweets because it would put weight on," she said. I don't think it's good for older people to get heavy, but I like all kinds of pies. "

What about other desserts like cakes, cookies, fudge?

"Oh, I do," she said. "But for the fundraisers, I do the pies. That's what people want.

I do make cakes, and would make them for orders. I don't advertise, because I'm still in the auxiliary and president of Crimestoppers again, and there are church things."

THE CUSTARD

The crusts went in the oven and it was time to make pudding. Evora pulled out a vintage Fire-King 4-cup measuring bowl and several Pyrex ceramic bowls to begin.

She still uses vintage appliances and mixing bowls. If it works, why replace it?

She pulled a recipe from her "stand by" box next to the oven, quickly washed her hands and began separating the egg whites.

"Now, you can't get any egg yolk in the whites or they won't do right," she said.

Evora carefully tipped the yolk from one egg shell half to the other, as the white separated. The recipe requires more egg white than yolk, so she uses the leftover yolks to make egg noodles to freeze.

Evora likes to let the eggs warm a bit outside of the fridge.

"They're not completely room temperature, but if they're not quite so cold the egg whites separate better I don't know why."

She added the soda, did a quick check on the crusts and rotated them to help the center cook more evenly.

Back to the pudding: Evora added the sugar and cornstarch. To save cost, she uses Best Choice brand for almost everything and finds it doesn't affect the quality of her final product.

The four cups of milk were stirred in one at a time, whisking thoroughly between each one.

Whoever came up with the idea of half towels, deserves a gold medal, she said as she used a paper towel to wipe up a small spill.

Evora microwaves her custard.

"That's a good invention, too," she said. And it frees her up to check on other things.

I microwave three minutes; whisk real good. Microwave another three minutes. Whisk again, Evora said.

The glass handle on the Pyrex stays cool, making this part easier.

Meanwhile the pie crusts were done and she pulled them out, after which she readied the Hamilton Beach 200 stand mixer for whipping the egg whites into meringue. Altogether, Evora has three fully-functional, vintage Hamilton Beach stand mixers.

She also has three ovens. Two upstairs and a Norge 1966 range in the basement for overflow cooking.

We bought it when we moved from Market Street to Lawrence Street, she said. It still works perfectly, but the spring on the door is loose so I have to put a stick on it to keep the heat in. But it still bakes better than this one (upstairs).

There are two ovens upstairs, however Evora doesn't like the way one of them bakes, so she uses it for storage.

"The other one," she said, "I feel, doesn't bake as nice as the one downstairs.

"Like for cinnamon rolls: If I make a double batch, I do 15 up here and 15 down there, and the ones from down there are prettier. They brown nicer."

The stand mixer made very short work of the meringue, with little attention from Evora so she could focus on round two of microwaving the custard.

She microwaved the mixture another three minutes. Things were happening quickly now. Crusts and meringue were at the ready. The custard only required two tablespoons of butter, a teaspoon of vanilla extract and about 3/4-cup flaked coconut.

The custard went into the crust and the meringue got a refreshing whip. Finally, Evora mounded it on top of the custard giant slabs of meringue spilling out of the mixing bowl. She pressed it firmly against the crust edges so there wouldn't be any gapping.

Her recipe makes about a half-cup too much, so there were tasty bits to snack on. I asked her about re-whipping the meringue, assuming it would have broken it into butter. She said letting it set would have created lumps.

"I had to whip it again, because it would be lumpy if I make it too far ahead like I just did," she said

Rewhipping the meringue didn't seem to affect the quality and it reminded Evora of a mystery.

"I don't know why, and maybe someone can tell me the secret; lemon pies will usually leak or weep some, she said. And I have not figured that out ... one time, I think it was for the ESU auction, and I got to the civic building and I was taking them out and there was this leakage in the box. I had to come back home, put it in another box and go back again," she laughed.

Maybe it's the acidity? I suggested.

See the original post:
In Sallie's Kitchen: Baker raises thousands with exemplary pies - Emporia Gazette