By Chris Martin
With the holidays fast approaching, bakeries are sifting through 50-pound bags of flour faster than you can open a can of cranberry sauce, and pie is cooling around every corner. Local pie maker and young entrepreneur Megan Adams is facing down another holiday baking season.
Adams sells sumptuous apple hand pies, mini pies, and eight-inch pies through Basan, the Korean food truck. She makes everything from scratch, and even in a locally crowded pie market, Adams’ work stands out.
Her arrangement with Basan is new, but she says baking has been part of her life since she was a child, recalling fond memories of baking as a toddler with her mother. It was while working for Camille Phillips at Greenhouse Coffee in Crozet, that Adams’ passion caught fire. “Everything came back to me,” she says. “What I had been wanting to learn more of as a child.”
She attended a local culinary program through the Jefferson School and PVCC. “I loved baking, garde manger, soups, stocks, and sauces, things that were culinary focused,” she says. Adams honed her skills working brunch shifts at L’etoile, picking up catering gigs, baking at Goodwin Creek Farm & Bakery in Afton, and learning from Angelo Vangelopoulos at The Ivy Inn, all while baking at Greenhouse Coffee.
A few months ago, she was baking for fun, and wanted to make pie and pass along the technique to her partner’s daughter. “If you look at her tiny hands and how much intention she put behind it, and what I interpret as love, it brought me back to the love of baking,” says Adams. That led to the Basan gig, where she slings noodles and bakes, reconnecting with what cooking is all about for her.
With years of making hand pies under her belt, she sources her apples from Henley’s Orchard in Crozet, and has developed a solid knowledge of the volume needed to fulfill Charlottesville’s pie demands.
“I found that if I’m going to bake them, freezing them solid allows the crust on the bottom and top to bake evenly,” Adams says. “I put a little vent in them to let the steam escape.”
What’s next on her list? “Bourbon pecan,” she says. “I want to find what’s going to be best, and I definitely want to use a local bourbon.”
If you want to get your hands on these bad boys, you’ll have to be quick, because pre-orders close on November 20. Adams is pre-selling apple hand pies, mini hand pies (apple, bourbon pecan, pecan, and pumpkin), and eight-inch pies (apple, bourbon pecan, pecan, chicken pot pie, and vegan chicken pot pie). To order, email meganchopsalot@gmail.com.
