- I'm a master baker!
- Do apples rise?
- All of you!
Get in there!
- Oh my god!
(smoke alarm rings)
- Oh, let's ignore that.
(bell dings)
(exciting orchestral music)
(bell dings)
- [Narrator] The Try Guys are back in the kitchen
to try their hand at baking without a recipe once more.
This week, holiday pies!
Will they find it to be easy as pie?
- Today we are not in our own kitchens,
we are in the Good Mythical Morning kitchen,
where we're not supposed to post on social media,
and I already did!
That's an oops!
- [Narrator] Each of the guys will have
two hours to bake a pie of their choice,
and then present it to the panel of judges.
- Hi, my name is Mari Takahashi,
I play video games for a living,
I share a birthday with the Cookie Monster.
I love sweets, it's my sweet spot,
and that's why I'm qualified
to judge these boys on their pies.
- Hi, my name is Jessica Schupack,
I'm a marketing consultant for restaurants.
I basically judge with restaurants
if something should go on the menu or not.
- I'm Brianna Abrams, I'm the chief PieSmith
at Winston Pies here in Los Angeles.
We're really excited to have you here
and talk about holiday pies,
cause I love making pies and I love talking about pies.
It is unbelievably hard to make a pie,
especially if you're just doing it one time on a Saturday.
You spend hours making the dough and letting it rest,
hours making the filling,
then you're watching it bake, it comes out and maybe
it doesn't look so pretty but then it tastes amazing,
or it looks beautiful and it is not delicious.
Perfecting pie is a challenge.
- Pies.
- My baking experience is limited
to eating raw cookie dough,
and the last time we made one of these videos.
- Last time on Without a Recipe,
my bread looked amazing and tasted very plain.
So this time, I'm not gonna forget the flavor!
- I like to pride myself of the fact
that I'm good at making food for others.
I engineered this video series to be
a competition show that I could win,
and then I didn't win.
- Last time, I ended up winning.
I'm just gonna relax, see what comes to my brain,
and hopefully we have a similar outcome.
- Do I know how to make a pie?
No.
Am I confident?
You bet your sweet-as-pie ass I am.
I'm gonna try and be meticulous and methodical this time.
- I'm so proud of you!
- Get some dough, bro!
- Wanna get some dough, bro?
- Get some dough, bro!
- Bro dough?
- Get dat dough!
- Get dat dough.
- [Narrator] All right, bakers, 3, 2, 1!
Try to bake!
- Okay. - Oh, god.
- Woo!
Roll up the sleeves!
Today I'm making apple pie, it's a classic, classic pie.
I love pie, my family has a pie-making
contest every single year,
but I use a recipe.
- Pie's great, it recalls also a lot of memories
about things like the holidays, and bad sex jokes.
The pie I'm making today is
none other than the blueberry pie.
- [Ned] Are you drinking whiskey?
- They put it out there knowing I would grab it.
- Well fine.
You won last time!
- Happy holidays.
- Woo! - Woo!
- [Zach] Today, I am baking not just a pie,
but the best pie.
Pecan pie.
Do you guys say PEE-can or pe-CAHN?
Tapioca flour?
I can make a gluten-free pie.
- Don't do that.
- [Zach] Why not?
- It's just not a good idea.
I love pie so much that I had
pies instead of a wedding cake.
We just went for pies.
Today I am making my favorite pie, which is a pumpkin pie.
I think I know what I'm doing.
I want to win so bad.
- These things are pe-CAHNS, but the pie is a PEE-can pie.
I'm having a pe-CAHN pie!
Like, get your fancy ass outta here!
- [Narrator] To start, each Try Guy will have 30 minutes
to prepare the dough for their pie crust.
- I don't know the proportions on anything,
I just kinda think I know what's supposed to go in it.
- Dough includes flour, a little bit of sugar,
little bit of salt, butter, and some water.
- Baking soda...
Baking powder.
- I'll just do two tablespoons of salt.
It seems like a good amount.
The last thing I want is for something to be
under-seasoned.
- Vegetable shortening.
You said I can use this instead of butter?
- Yeah, I mean, you just need fat.
- Four?
Five.
Eight scoops of this.
- I feel like this is a mistake.
- Coconut?
- Fuck it!
Boom!
Sugar and an egg!
Let's get in there!
Done!
- I forgot that we're not good at this.
We are not good at baking.
- I don't like a very sweet dough,
so I just use a very little bit of sugar.
- Is that too much sugar?
- How bout to the 50?
- And then I'm gonna add cold butter.
- I've watched a lot of baking shows,
and all I know is that there's so much butter.
So I got some flour in there,
I'm gonna mix some flour, a little bit of sugar,
a little bit of salt, and then get the butter in,
get some water in, and I think, I think that's it?
I don't think there's egg?
You're making fat, sweet bread.
Be very careful about how fast
and how much water you put in.
- This is getting lukewarm water!
Oh, it sounds like you're doing it!
- Fake it 'til you make it, right?
- You're doin' it!
You're doin' it!
You know baking's kinda like sex?
It's like you know how it's supposed to look,
but you don't know where to start the first time,
so you just start sticking your hands in?
Sorry, I make things so gross.
- Holy shit, am I doing it?
Did I like way over-complicate this
last time we made a video?
This is like basically perfect.
- My dough is not solidifying,
so I'm just gonna dump the rest of the butter in here.
Maybe it was tablespoons!
Okay.
Four teaspoons...
- It's liquid, right?
It's liquid.
It needed more moisture!
Like everything else in life, just put bourbon in it.
- Mm-hmm.
Lotta flavor.
Maybe too much flavor.
- Oh.
Wow.
This tastes amazing.
- Should I try mine?
Hot (bleep), that's pretty good!
- [Narrator] Bakers, one minute!
That's one minute left.
- This is not how the holidays are supposed to be!
- [Eugene] Well this is Without a Recipe, bro!
- It's not Without Any Time!
- I think I did better than Keith.
Keith, do you wanna come try mine?
- No.
- My stupid robot didn't work,
now I'm just making dough by hand like an idiot!
- [Narrator] Five, four, three, two, one!
Bakers, hands up.
- Mmm.
- [Narrator] As the dough rests in the freezer,
each of the guys will have
30 minutes to make their fillings.
- What we're doing right now,
is we're putting in the secret ingredient, Eugene.
- Which is?
- Love.
- Drunkenness. - Okay.
- Okay? Mm-hmm.
- [Narrator] Earlier today, each of the guys had
an opportunity to taste a pie
similar to the one they want to make.
- I don't wanna destroy it, it's so beautiful!
- Smells like Christmas!
- Oh, Susan, how'd you get so lazy?
- Oh yeah, that's a dense (bleep) pie.
- Smells very pumpkin-y, cinnamon-y, nutmeg-y.
- All right, so what I can taste
immediately, obviously, is fruit.
This too many blueberries?
I don't know.
Woo! It'll fit in a pie.
- Definitely a lot of cinnamon.
It looks like the apples are sliced.
Woo!
Yeah!
I feel like I'm about to do a magic trick with these.
- I think that this has...
Pecans.
- Butter.
Maybe some kinda milk?
- No one's gonna eat the pie and be like,
oh no, chocolate!
That's not supposed to be in here!
- I think it confirms things I thought were in a pie.
I think I can insert a little Eugene in this pie.
Mmm?
- [Keith] Eww.
(laughter)
- I heard it as I said it.
- I'm a nonconventional baker.
I like to use things that inspire me.
- Pecan pie is a tricky pie to make.
It is fun to eat and work with but it is very sticky.
- Light corn syrup.
- Oh my god, Zach!
- Yeah.
It's sweet.
- [Brianna] It also has a couple of pitfalls
because it involves eggs.
- (laughs) Oh no!
- If you mix those sugars in with your egg yolks too soon
and you let it sit there, you're gonna burn your yolks.
- What do you do once you've over-salted a thing?
You're just--
You're (bleep)-ed.
There's no salt remover.
More high-fructose corn syrup, you got it!
- It will actually affect the way yolks cook.
- Pecan!
- Apple pie, you often will have it with cinnamon,
some people like nutmeg,
you could do a little bit of cardamom
to get that holiday feel.
- You want to know my strategy?
I have no strategy.
But I just put some sugar on,
cause I know there has to be sugar.
I don't really believe in measuring cups.
I'm just kinda doing it by hand, you know?
Like Grandma used to do.
So I'm just gonna grab stuff as I see it
and just add it for fun!
Like, lime juice!
This is cornstarch.
Ginger, I think, is the only Asian item here,
so that's why I'm throwing it in!
I don't think this is supposed to go in here,
but, whatever.
- So I tasted my filling earlier,
and it tasted pretty much just, like,
gross pumpkin.
What do you think it tastes like?
- Kinda like baby food!
- So I added some brown sugar.
I'm slowly adding the evaporated milk.
It should be a lot wetter?
I think it's close enough that people are gonna be like,
yeah, that's a pumpkin pie taste.
- We are ready to close up our pie.
- All of you!
Get in there!
- [Zach] Every now and then I get a bite
that's just so salty.
But I'm gonna say that that's like, the thrill of eating.
- Yeah and that's why a chef always
comes out at a nice restaurant and be like,
Now every so often you're going to get
a bite that tastes terrible!
- I don't want too much goop.
But I want just like a little bit of goop.
- [Brianna] This is where you can have a lot of fun.
You can do a lattice.
- [Eugene] That overlay is kind of like a doily.
- [Brianna] And you can cut into your dough
all those little patterns.
So today I'm gonna do a little star.
If you do that, have the dough be very cold.
- I need to put a centerpiece.
- [Brianna] A pumpkin pie has a crust on the bottom
that actually gets baked before the filling goes into it.
- So I'm going to cook my dough by itself
for like, 15 minutes?
- Should I do that?
- Then you need to put a weight on it.
Some people use actual pie weights to help hold its shape
so it doesn't shrink down and shift
and move as the butter melts in the oven.
- So I'm gonna throw this in the oven,
and then make sure sure that my filling is good!
- [Narrator] Ten minutes, bakers!
(screams)
- [Eugene] Well the one thing I know I can do is
make something look pretty,
so I'm making a little rose
decoration at the top with leaves.
I put way too much bourbon in this pie.
- I'm gonna (bleep)-ing win this, guys.
- [Eugene] Oh, look at your crust!
That's cool!
Wow, yours looks really good!
- Oh my god!
(smoke alarm beeping)
- [Keith] Oh yeah, what's happening?
Huh.
- [Zach] Oh it's very smoky!
- Yeah, well, my pie's garbage.
- Oh, I thought those were marshmallows!
- How'd that even happen?!
I don't even know what to do!
What happened?
- So you...
The thing that you probably could have done is to
put a piece of parchment between
the dough and the pie weights,
so that they didn't bake into the dough.
- Huh!
Hmm.
(dramatic piano music)
It seems like you just throw rocks in a pie
and it would be just fine.
Just fine.
How did this even happen?
How'd this even happen?
What even is that?
I don't even know what to do!
How did this even happen?
How'd that even happen?
How--
How did it happen?
How'd it do this?
What happened?
I'm so confused!
- [Narrator] Five minutes left!
- Maybe I'll just make a pot pie,
and try my luck with that.
I went from a very lofty place of thinking things were great
to a very sad place of things not working out so great.
- I think I'm done.
- Yeah!
- I don't wanna keep wasting stuff,
so I just need to accept that this is what I made.
This is what I made.
- Cheers!
Good job, Ned!
- Good job, Eugene!
- Yay!
- Pecan!
- Merry Christmas! - Merry Christmas.
- Uh, the new plan is, we're just gonna put this in
and hope for the best, what else can I do?
I didn't make a ton of extra dough,
so I'm just trying to patchwork make what I can.
- [Narrator] One minute left!
One minute, guys.
- Just gonna make a short pie,
it's gonna live short in the pan.
And, you know, it's not gonna be amazing,
but maybe the filling is good.
- [Narrator] Hands up, bakers!
- Yeah, this doesn't say to put it in wax paper, so...
(dramatic Christmas music)
- [Brianna] Today we're gonna be judging these pies on
presentation, taste, and creativity.
- And the last question that we're gonna ask is,
is it pie?
This is like a holiday pie episode,
what do you think we're gonna see?
- I can tell you what I don't want to see.
I know people like it--
Pecans.
Like, people like nuts, I don't want nuts in my pie.
- I think there's gonna be alcohol pies.
- [Brianna] I hope so, that's awesome.
Alcohol pie is great.
- [Mari] We might see a possibly weepy, sad pumpkin pie.
- You don't like pumpkin?
- I love pumpkin, but what happens
when it maybe isn't baked quite right,
it can be pretty gross.
- I think we're gonna see at least
one Sweeney Todd pie in there.
(laughs)
(cat purring)
- [Mari] Ned, bring on the pie!
(applause)
- Oh!
- It looks awesome.
- Here you go.
- Oh my god!
- Beautiful!
- This is my Holiday Apple Pi Pie,
it's got a pi symbol in the front,
p-i p-i-e,
it's got infinite flavor!
- The dad's got dad jokes.
(laughter)
Um, I think it looks really good.
- [Brianna] It looks really good.
You needed a vent hole to let all that steam out,
see that's a great addition.
- [Mari] Would you call this golden brown?
- A little, maybe, more golden over here than over here.
- [Ned] You know, honestly I would've really been checking
this every five minutes but, what can you do?
- I think we should taste-- - Dig in!
- Yeah! - All right!
- [Brianna] Let's do it.
- It tastes like apple pie!
It's very buttery crust.
- [Mari] Ooh, I got like a crystal of salt.
- It's pretty salty, I just got that too.
- Mm-hmm.
- Is that salt on top instead of sugar?
- Uh, no, that's sugar.
Yeah.
- [Mari] That's salt, though.
That's like a slow burn.
- It is salty, I'm feeling that now.
- It hits you a little later.
- [Brianna] I do taste it.
But you see, it doesn't stop me.
- Oh, I'm still going.
- Like, I'm still going,
so I think that is a huge compliment.
- I also tried putting a little bit of
lemon and apple cider vinegar inside
to kind of balance out some of the sugar.
- The filling worked out really well for you.
- Yeah.
- I think it would do my in-laws proud.
- What about the creativity, though?
- [Brianna] I think the pi sign is
strong points for creativity there.
I really like that.
- Is this pie?
I would say--
- This is pie!
- I mean, it's pie in two senses, come on.
- This is definitely pie.
- It's two pies!
And it's pi.
Very pie, yeah.
- Thank you judges.
- Well done. - Good job.
(applause)
- [Eugene] I'm excited to see what
this is like on the inside.
- [Mari] We've got our next pie, by Eugene!
(applause)
- I'm so nervous!
Here we go.
- [Judges] Wow.
- I call this the Berry Drunk Asian Pie.
Because I was very drunk and Asian when I made it.
It smells less alcoholic, so maybe some of it kicked off.
- [Brianna] What is the thing in the middle?
- [Eugene] I made roses out of dough--
- I was gonna say, is that a rosette?
It looks like a rosette!
- [Eugene] But then I didn't realize that
they would just mush together like Play-Doh.
- [Mari] And your lattice work is lovely!
- Thanks! - Good job!
That's tricky, right?
- I think if I went to a bakery, I would wanna eat it.
- Wow.
- Are you gonna see the bottom--
- Oh, wow!
Oh, that is a hefty pie!
Oh my gosh!
- It's juicy!
Oh, it's juicy!
- How many pounds, can I feel it?
- That is a six to seven pound pie, not including the pan.
- Probably
- Wow, Saturday night!
- Oh, this crust is good!
- Very good crust.
- It's really tart.
- I put the lime in it because I put...
Maybe half a bottle of bourbon in.
- I'm feeling that back of the throat, kinda off taste.
- Oh man, I'm a fan of this.
- I added shaved ginger.
- You said it's Asian!
- That's where the Asian comes in!
- Yeah, you gotta have ginger in there!
- So it's a ginger, lime, bourbon, blueberry pie.
- I think if the flavors had come together,
the flavor profile could totally work.
I think they just needed to
cook together a little bit longer.
- (laughs) From a drink profile, it's delicious!
- Really? - Yeah!
- Oh, there is a lot of alcohol in that.
That is a cocktail!
- So my pie-baking competition ever
turned into a great cocktail.
- [Brianna] Oh my gosh!
- I think it's pretty great!
- I think it's really creative,
it's not easy to do lattice and it takes an artistic vision.
- You put bourbon on the menu, and it's dessert,
and you have lime in it, those are all unique.
- [Mari] Final question: is this pie?
- It looks like pie, it doesn't taste like pie,
so I don't know how to make that decision.
- It's 2018 guys, what is pie anymore?
- I agree. - That's true.
- That's true.
- Dare I say that smells like a pie!
Does it taste like a pie?
We'll find out!
- Zach! - Zach!
- Bring it out!
(applause)
- Hello, judges.
I hope you're having a wonderful time so far.
- Oh!
- Presenting Zachy's World Famous, Unforgettable Pecan Pie
- Ooh! - Just what you wished for.
- [Mari] Very brown.
Very brown!
Oh, look at the edge!
- [Brianna] A little crimp action.
Did you maybe take one of those little wheels?
- I did, I was later told it's for ravioli!
- It's a ravioli wheel!
- [Mari] I kinda like the crimping,
it's kind of interesting.
- Here's the thing, if I could tell the children one thing,
always believe.
In me.
Because I always come out on top.
- This is like a project.
- What's happening?
- Yeah, what's happening?
(laughter)
- Okay, ladies, here we go!
An interesting smell is coming out.
- All right! - Look at that!
- A nice, clean slice.
- Oww!
- It smells like brownie, that's what I was thinking.
- Yeah. - Ohh.
- There might be a little chocolate in there.
- Oh, wow!
- A good wow?
- The mouthfeel just keeps comin' at me.
- [Zach] Just all directions.
- Yeah I'm processing.
- Two for two!
- Have you guys had those Beanboozled--
- Oh, no. - Jelly beans?
- No, no, no.
- So the Beanboozled jelly bean that I'm thinking of
is the one that's dog food. - Ugh.
- So, um--
- You can't feed a dog that, there's chocolate in it,
he would totally die.
- Ugh! Mm-mmm.
It hits you in the back of the mouth.
- It's mean!
(laughter)
- [Mari] It's bad.
Oh my god!
I'm sweating!
- No it made me sweat, too.
- You know what I want?
- It really made me sweat!
(laughter)
- I'm so sorry, I really wanted to like it.
- So you don't like it, you love it.
- I mean, it's an experience.
- I love that you did it.
- So do I!
- It is a beefy, smoky flavor that is coming through!
- Hmm.
- [Mari] Right?
That's what we did.
- [Zach] Hmm.
- It's a question mark.
- I do say, that's my favorite thing I've ever had.
(laughter)
- You're a liar, and you know it!
- Aah, you're a truth-teller!
- Yum, yum, yum.
There's not much in here.
It's a lot of sugar--
- I need more sugar in this.
- If you mix those sugars in with your egg yolks,
and you let it sit there, you're gonna burn your yolks.
Burn your yolks.
- This was full when I started, right?
Oh yeah, there's the vegetable lard.
- That. - Yeah.
- That's the gravy, though.
- Oh-- - That's that--
- Cornstarch!
- [Brianna] That's that funky flavor.
- My struggle in life is that pies,
unfortunately, give me diarrhea.
Today I presented something that turned the tables.
(laughter)
What if I told you this is the sec--
Third time I've ever baked?
- You wanna lower your bar?
Okay.
- Okay.
(laughter)
- Eugene told me to stay optimistic,
Eugene's really rooting for me today.
I can't appreciate him enough for that,
I was certainly very down.
I feel like I had a real cooking show moment, you know?
I had to scramble together my scraps
and still make something and I did it!
I'm fuckin' doin' it over here!
Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, Pie!
- We've got our next pie by Keith!
- This is my Pumpkin Patched Together Pie.
- [Brianna] Ooh!
- [Mari] As far as presentation goes,
I feel like the crust is...
- [Jessica] Homemade?
- [Brianna] Rustic?
We call that rustic.
- [Mari] Yeah, very rustic.
- [Brianna] You have a nice, smooth top.
I like that. - [Keith] Thank you.
I think it's gonna come out as one piece.
Is it, is it, is it?
It is!
Look at that!
Well done!
Mm-hmm.
That's pumpkin pie.
- (bleep) yeah!
- What a built-up-- - Wow!
- Pent-up excitement!
- I'm very nervous, so I was very excited
that you liked it, or at least called it what it is.
- The crust, am I wrong?
It's also salty.
- It is moving towards the cracker side of crust.
- Like a cereal taste in the crust.
- It reminds me a little bit of shortbread,
which is mostly butter.
- I'm Scots-Irish, so.
- I like that you're going back to your roots--
- I can taste that, I can taste that.
- That's really clever.
- You had to think on the fly,
cause you had a huge baking mishap,
and that takes creativity.
- Yeah, pumpkin pie is really hard to bake.
There are a lot of things that
could have gone wrong with this,
and you did not fall into any of those pitfalls.
- She's really nice. - Yeah.
- It's, like, so basic.
I wouldn't call it creative.
- Yeah, you know, this is very vanilla,
as far as creativity goes.
- I did use vanilla.
- But I give it a zero on creativity.
- Thank you.
- You're welcome.
- Is it pie?
- 100% - Yes!
- This is pie. - This is definitely pie.
♪ Christmas, O Christmas Tree ♪
- Woo!
- So now it's time to judge it best to worst.
Let's start with Ned's.
There was a lot of crust, not a lot of filling.
- And a lot of salt.
- Kind of creative with the pi pie.
- Yeah, I'm still not for the creative.
- Especially next to Eugene's. - Yeah.
- It even looks like it's pie.
- The most creative is right here.
- But this, we kind of agreed it wasn't pie.
- That's true.
- But it's like the best mistake possible.
- Yeah, it ended up being great.
- How about Keith's very, very safe pumpkin pie?
Honestly, there was no surprises, which is kind of
what you want when you eat.
- Yes, as we learned.
- Yeah, Zach's pie was an adventure.
- I don't even wanna look-- - It was a ride.
- It like gives me the heebie-jeebies looking at this pie.
- Yeah, it was a ride.
So we agree?
- Yeah, I think so. - Absolutely.
- Perfect.
(dramatic electronic music)
- So guys, we've come to a decision.
We're grateful for the journey that you have given us,
but it's time.
In fourth place we've got the
dangerous delight that is this pie.
- Respectfully disagree, judges.
Thank you.
- In third place...
- The apple pie.
- (sighs)
- It was good when it was the only one we tried,
until we tasted the salt.
- We still taste the salt.
- I'm surprised.
- I'm so surprised.
- I'm so, so, so, so, sorry.
- Wow.
This is...
This is awful.
- (laughs)
- This is so sad.
What am I supposed to tell my father-in-law?!
- All right.
Gentlemen, you did a great job.
I am proud of both of you.
These were not easy pies to bake,
but unfortunately we do have to have a winner.
Keith, it's your pumpkin pie.
- Oh my god!
Oh my god, this is the greatest day of my life!
Oh, I'm so excited!
Thank you so much, judges!
Oh, the judges!
- [All] Ohhh!
- Keith. - Wow.
- You won Without a Recipe.
- I won!
- How does it feel?
- I feel like a king!
I feel like the greatest man who's ever lived!
- Do you know what I wish for this holiday?
- What?
- More episodes of this show.
- (gasps)
- So join us next time on--
- [All] Without a Recipe!
(applause)
- Dance!
- Dance! - Dance, Keith!
- Dance for your pie! - Dance, Keith, dance!
Dance for your pie, Keith! - Dance!
Dance for your pie!
Dance for your pie, Keith!
(upbeat Christmas music)
♪ Jolly jolly, Jolly jolly, ♪
♪ Old Saint Nick. ♪
♪ Jolly jolly, jolly jolly ♪
♪ Old Saint Nick ♪
- [Crowd] Happy New Year!