WIN A PIE CONTEST

Whether the National Pie Championship or a friendly local pie-off, competitive baking has become a serious sport.  So how do you wow the masses and take home the bragging rights?

1. Presentation is everything.  
   People are simple creatures and rely way too much on their visual cues.  If it looks fancy or delicious, you're already 95% there.  So make it look good.  Use a nice serving dish.  Add fresh fruit or garnish, use color, fancy it up.  Look at pictures from food magazines for ideas.
2. Practice, practice, practice.
   The night before a competition is not the time to experiment.  Use a recipe you already know you can do well.  Or if you want to try something new and exciting, give yourself time for a few trial runs beforehand to work out the kinks.
3. Experiment.
   If you have time to play around a bit, try different combinations to see what works best.  Making a cherry pie?  Try it with frozen cherries, dried cherries, fresh cherries, a combination.
4. Be bold.
   The judges will be eating countless pies, all basically the same.  Wake up their tastebuds with something different.  Offer something that's not on any popular pies list, or spice up a traditional recipe with your own unique take.  Add a caramel topping to apple pie.  Spike your cherry pie with bourbon.