Ezekiel J. Emanuel
One of the pleasures of summer and fall is fruit pies. My friend Helen claimed she had a wonderful pie crust recipe, noting that we were in the midst of the only two weeks when sour cherries were in season. Ah, sour cherries! When I was a kid, my family took long driving trips. (Yes, you wonder about the sanity of my parents, confining the three Emanuel boys in a car for five or six hours at a time.) At every lunch or dinner, we ordered cherry pie for dessert.
Not ones to demur from a challenge, we went at it—Helen's pie crust versus mine. Helen's aims to be flaky and light. Mine is made for apple pies and is supposed to be more cookie-ish, sweeter and firmer, and able to absorb more fruit juice without falling apart. Mine is also easier. Helen works her crust by hand. I put the flour, sugar, and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer. Then, as the mixer is going, I add cut-up butter and shortening and finally add a few tablespoons of water (or if apple pie, apple cider). The recipes are below.

Ezekiel J. Emanuel
I also learned a new technique for rolling out dough from Helen: put down two overlapping sheets of plastic wrap, place the dough on the sheets, fold the cling wrap over to cover the dough, and roll. It works like magic, with less mess, and it is easier to flip into the pie pan.