Lucky football players reckon the value of pie

Is an apple pie baked by a plumbing-and-heating specialist any more or less delicious than one prepared by a cookbook author who has been baking for years? It is a question that took a dozen Concord-Carlisle Patriots football players to decide.

With apple-picking season in full swing, Globe NorthWest thought it would be a good idea to celebrate the harvest by finding a couple of skilled practitioners in the art of apple-pie baking. And to put them to the test, we went to a dusty football field, where the judges sampled at least one slice from plumber Dave Houghton of Stoneham, and one from Lynne Wilson of Lexington before hitting the showers.

Houghton never baked until his daughter Emily asked him to help her in the kitchen a few years ago. "She likes to bake pies," Houghton, 44, said of the younger of his two daughters, now 14. Before he even selected the perfect Cortland apples for the first pie, Houghton learned there was no better way to spend an autumn afternoon.

"I do it because it's a fun time with Emily, and when do you really have time to do that?" asked Houghton, who manages Houghton Plumbing & Heating Inc. when he's not timing laps for the Lucky Lobsters, the swim team he coaches at the Woburn Boys and Girls Club.

Father and daughter revived a recipe that had been dormant in his wife's family - though Houghton admits to using prepared crusts because of time and inexperience. "Why risk it?" he reasoned.

Wilson, 71, began honing her culinary skills more than 60 years ago, eagerly helping her mother in the kitchen. Her marriage to Alan Wilson, whose family opened Wilson Farms in Lexington in 1953, afforded her endless opportunities to create tasty recipes for everything from dill-tofu dip for raw vegetables to streusel-topped rhubarb coffee cake, using harvest-fresh crops. Her chatty and easy-to-follow book, "The Wilson Farm Country Cookbook," was published in 1985, and a follow-up edition is being considered.

Baking - and especially eating - pie is a family tradition. Wilson relishes having company, particularly any of her six grandchildren, working alongside her in the kitchen.

Alan Wilson's recent birthday was celebrated with a homemade peach deep-dish pie, and family gatherings call for five or six homemade pies. "It depends on how many people we're having," said Wilson. Last Thanksgiving "we had a mob and I had to make another pie for leftovers."

For this contest, Wilson rolled out the dough and peeled more than 14 cups of Cortlands. Neither she nor Houghton attended the judging or knows the outcome.

The taste test took place next to the football field. The pies by one baker were labeled "yellow," and its slices served on yellow plates. The other was "red." The players who did the testing did not know which color corresponded to which baker until the votes were tallied. Overall presentation and crust presentation of two uncut pies from each contestant were first to be judged.

"Is presentation just what it looks like?" asked senior Tom Jump, a 175-pound guard and linebacker. Once assured he was right, he wrote, "Winner, looks real good" for the overall presentation of red pie and "bigger, still pretty good looking" for yellow pie.

Split end and cornerback Keen Xu was more detailed. "Symmetrical, evenly distributed," he wrote for red pie. "Overflows with apples, messy," he wrote for yellow. Yet he simplified his responses for crust presentation: "Better" for yellow pie and "much better" for red.

Once sliced (the moment the judges had been waiting for), pies were critiqued on texture and taste. "More slippery," 248-pound senior Phil Recco wrote for red's texture. "Sooooo good," 200-pound David McKenna wrote for yellow. And for red: "Not as good but still amazing."

Seconds, thirds, and, in one case, fourths of each entry were requested for further study as judges became very territorial about favorites.

"These guys like the yellow," kicker Mike Pettus said of a group at the table. "But I kind of like the red. It's more refined."

"The red pie was just a little too flat for my taste buds," said Tim McGonagle, a 205-pound defensive end. "Dude, there is no carbonated pie," quipped a dedicated red defender.

"The apple is more crispy and the crust tastes better," William Oh, a 225-pound defensive tackle, explained why he preferred the red pie overall. "Has an understating attitude that just says, 'Hey, I may not be as flavorful as my opponent, but I can still pack a punch,' " wrote defensive end Nick Goulet of the yellow, his preference.

Votes were totaled when all but a few slices of each pie, five gallons of milk, cider, and water, and a gallon of ice cream had been devoured. Red pie scored big in overall presentation, 10 to 2, and crust presentation, 9 to 3. Yellow pie got on the board in the texture category, 8 to 4. On taste and overall preference, it was deadlocked at 6 to 6.

As the groups disbanded for the showers, guard Cam Bjork strolled over, having freshened up while the others busied themselves with pie tasting.

He sampled a bite of red pie. "That's good," he said, nodding politely. Then he sampled a slice of yellow, Houghton's pie. "Man!" Bjork exclaimed with wide eyes. "That is good. But then again, all pie is pretty good."

Maureen Costello can be reached at Costello@globe.com.