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After releasing his second studio album Trapped On Cleveland 3 in August, YSL Records rapper Lil Keed brings a slippery performance of the album’s lead single “Fox 5” to UPROXX Sessions. It’s an unadorned performance but to be honest, any extras would only distract from the magnetic energy Keed gives off throughout, justifying the electric buzz that’s surrounded him since he received Drake’s blessing at his tour stop in LA last year.

Like the rest of Young Thug’s signees, Keed hails from Atlanta and takes plenty of inspiration from his label bossman’s unique flow. He and his brother Lil Gotit were signed to YSL Records early, although Keed truly started to build his buzz with 2019’s Long Live Mexico mixtape. He contended for the 10th spot on XXL‘s 2019 Freshman Class cover, finally earning that achievement on this year’s list, shortly after releasing the video for “Fox 5” featuring Gunna.

Watch Lil Keed’s UPROXX Sessions performance of “Fox 5” above.

Trapped On Cleveland 3 is out now via 300 Entertainment / Young Stoner Stoner Life Records. Get it here.

UPROXX Sessions is Uproxx’s new performance show featuring the hottest up-and-coming acts you should keep an eye on. Featuring creative direction from LA promotion collective, Ham On Everything, and taking place on our “bathroom” set designed and painted by Julian Gross, UPROXX Sessions is a showcase of some of our favorite performers, who just might soon be yours, too..

Lil Keed is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Bryson Tiller’s third studio album Anniversary fittingly arrived on the five-year anniversary of his debut LP Trapsoul. The only guest appearance on the entire effort was by Drake on Tiller’s track “Outta Time.” Now, Tiller aims to incorporate other musicians into the project by tapping Kehlani to star in the video alongside his song “Always Forever.”

Through a handful of vignettes, Tiller’s “Always Forever” visual offers an intimate look at a relationship. It opens with Kehlani and Tiller sharing a quiet moment in a diner before quickly moving through other scenes of their time together.

Ahead of the release of his “Always Forever” video, Tiller joined Travis Scott in an interview about raising Black daughters. Tiller praised his daughter for her creativity while recognizing that his Louisville hometown has recently been the epicenter of Black Lives Matter protests against Breonna Taylor’s murder:

“My daughter’s super creative, man. And she’ll be giving me ideas for crazy stuff. Listen to my music in the studio and vibe with me. It’s crazy what’s going on though, especially back in my hometown. You all know they just calling Louisville the epicenter for what’s going on with Breonna Taylor and everything that happened. And man, I ain’t never seen nothing like it happen in my life. I was just like, ‘Wow.’ I’m 27 years old. I been dealt with racism plenty of times. You know what I mean? Growing up, walking down the street, just normal. It was normal to me.”

Watch Bryson Tiller’s “Always Forever” video above.

Anniversary is out now via RCA/Trapsoul. Get it here.

Kehlani is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Hulu is dropping enough shows and movies this November to keep us thoroughly entertained (and distracted) from the raging garbage fire that is 2020.

That means we’re getting an FX drama with Kate Mara. That means we’re getting inspiring documentaries about Gen Z activists. That means we’re getting a creepy thriller starring Sarah Paulson. And that means you’ll have plenty to add to your must-watch list before we close out this crazy year. Here’s everything coming to (and leaving) Hulu this November.

A Teacher (FX on Hulu series streaming 11/10)
Kate Mara and Nick Robinson have a very inappropriate teacher-student relationship in this FX on Hulu limited series. Mara plays Claire Wilson, a young teacher at a Texas high school who gets a little too close to her student, Eric Walker (Robinson). The show promises to explore the complex and problematic nature of these kinds of predatory relationships, and it’s interesting that they chose a woman to be in a position of power with this one. Still, it creeps us out.

I Am Greta (Hulu documentary streaming 11/13)
Greta Thunberg is only 14 years-old. Keep that in mind — and try not to feel inadequate — when watching this documentary that charts her rise to climate change activist and Gen Z icon. The movie, which includes never-before-seen footage, follows her journey from that first one-woman protest outside the Swedish Parliament to her wind-powered voyage across the Atlantic Ocean and her speech at the UN Climate Action Summit. If this doesn’t galvanize you to start doing something for climate change, we don’t know what will.

Run (Hulu film streaming 11/20)
Sarah Paulson plays yet another psycho in this suspenseful thriller coming to Hulu later this month. Paulson’s Diane is the dictionary definition of an overbearing, overprotective mother, raising her daughter, Chloe, in total isolation while keeping dark secrets from her about her past. Just be grateful you don’t have a mom like this.

Here’s the full list of titles coming to Hulu in November:

Avail. 11/1
Ayesha’s Home Kitchen: Complete Seasons 1 & 2
Best Baker in America: Complete Seasons 1 & 2
Christmas Cookie Challenge: Complete Season 1
Flip or Flop Fort Worth: Complete Season 1
Giada’s Holiday Handbook: Complete Seasons 1 – 4
Holiday Baking Championship: Complete Seasons 1 – 5
Holiday Gingerbread Showdown: Complete Season 1
Kids Halloween Baking Championship: Special
Macy’s Thanksgiving Cake Spectacular: Special
Malaysia Kitchen: Special
Rick & Morty: Complete Season 4
Skins: Complete Series
Tia Mowry at Home: Complete Seasons 1 – 3
Ultimate Thanksgiving Challenge: Complete Season 1
12 Rounds
3 Ninjas
A Christmas Solo
A Nanny For Christmas
A View to a Kill
Alien Nation
Antwone Fisher
Article 99
Beerfest
Big Daddy
The Blair Witch Project
The Bourne Identity
The Bourne Supremacy
The Bourne Ultimatum
Breathless
Bringing Down The House
Broadcast News
Children Of The Corn
Christmas In Compton
Christmas In Vermont
Christmas on Holly Lane
The Christmas Tale
Crimson Tide
Dead Presidents
Diamonds Are Forever
The Dog Who Saved Christmas
The Expendables
The Expendables 2
The Expendables 3
Firewalker
For Your Eyes Only
Foxfire
From Russia with Love
Fun in Acapulco
The Horse Whisperer
Hud
I Heart Huckabees
I Spy
Johnny Mnemonic
Jumping The Broom
The Kingdom Of Heaven
Kiss The Girls
Knocked Up
The Last Waltz
License to Kill
Little Giants
Live and Let Die
The Living Daylights
Lord Of War
Lost In Space
Love Hurts
The Man with the Golden Gun
Maverick
Moonraker
Mr. Majestyk
Much Ado About Nothing
The Net
Next Day Air
Octopussy
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
Once Upon A Time At Christmas
Pacific Heights
Paws P.I.
Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief
Platoon
The Prestige
Ronin
School Dance
Slumdog Millionaire
Spy Next Door
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street
The Taking Of Pelham 1 2 3
Thunderball
Tomorrow Never Dies
Universal Soldier
W.
Wanted
The Waterboy
Wetlands
Wild Hogs
Wild Things
Working Girl
The World is Not Enough
You Only Live Twice

Avail. 11/3
The Good Doctor: Season 4 Premiere
The Real Housewives of Atlanta: Complete Season 12
General Commander
The Assault

Avail. 11/4
Blue Story

Avail. 11/5
Braking for Whales

Avail. 11/6
Killing Eve: Complete Season 3
The Real Housewives of New Jersey: Complete Season 10

Avail. 11/9
The Mighty Ones: Complete Season 1 (Hulu Original)
Power: Season 6A
The Nice Guys

Avail. 11/10
A Teacher: Limited Series
Vik the Viking

Avail. 11/11
Eater’s Guide to the World: Complete Season 1 (Hulu Original)
The Girl Next Door
Tonight You’re Mine

Avail. 11/12
Chicago Fire: Season 9 Premiere
Chicago Med: Season 6 Premiere
Chicago P.D.: Season 8 Premiere
Man who Invented Christmas

Avail. 11/13
I Am Greta: Film Premiere (Hulu Original)
Grey’s Anatomy: Season 17 Premiere
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit: Season 22 Premiere
Station 19: Season 4 Premiere
Sputnik

Avail. 11/14
The Dictator

Avail. 11/15
12 Pups of Christmas
A Christmas Movie Christmas
A Nice Girl Like You
Cartel Land
Christmas Crush

Avail. 11/16
Seven Stages to Achieve Eternal Bliss

Avail. 11/17
Soul Surfer

Avail. 11/18
No Man’s Land: Complete Season 1 (Hulu Original)
Big Sky: Series Premiere
Body Cam
McQueen

Avail. 11/19
For Life: Season 2 Premiere
Amulet

Avail. 11/20
Animaniacs: Complete Season 1 (Hulu Original)
Run: Film Premiere (Hulu Original)
A Million Little Things: Season 3 Premiere
Tesla

Avail. 11/21
Burden of Truth: Complete Season 3

Avail. 11/24
Black Narcissus: Series Premiere
My Hero Academia: Season 4, Episodes 77-88 (DUBBED)

Avail. 11/26
Bombshell

Avail. 11/27
Centigrade

Avail. 11/29
The Big Ugly

Here’s what’s leaving Hulu in November:

Leaving 11/30
Absolute Power
Anywhere But Here
Bad Girls from Mars
The Bank Job
Because I Said So
Blade
Blade 2
Broken Lizard’s Club Dread
Call Me
Casino Royale
The Cold Light Of Day
Company Business
The Day the Earth Stood Still
Deep Blue Sea
Demolition Man
Evil Dead II
Extreme Justice
Fallen
Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay
Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle
The Hurt Locker
Jessabelle
Julia
Killers
The Last Boy Scout
Notorious
The Omen
Outbreak
Pee-wee’s Big Adventure
Quantum of Solace
Reasonable Doubt
Religulous
Snakes On A Plane
Stanley & Iris
Tyler Perry’S Daddy’S Little Girls
Up in the Air
The Weight of Water
The Woods

Click to download here.

Are You Not Bread Pies Now? Pod Yourself a Gun covers The Sopranos season 3 episode 6, “University”

On this week’s episode of Pod Yourself a Gun, one of the surviving co-founders of the Filmdrunk Frotcast joins Matt and Vince to talk about The Sopranos season 3 episode 6, “University.” Brendan is on the show and Marone! He’s a big-a meatball!

The episode features one of the best one-episode characters in The Sopranos’ run, Tracee. Poor, sweet Tracee. Ralphie could never love her as much as he loved the movie Gladiator (remember when that guy gets hit with the spike thing and chunks of his head go flying? That was so phat). Really there are a lot of examples of men and boys being bad in their own unique ways in this episode. Ralphie is an absolute psycho, Georgie at the Bada Bing is making the girls do him personal favors to get into the VIP room, and we learn Noah is a limo-liberal f*ckboi.

Come to this week’s podcast for the analysis you know and love, but stay for the premiere of what will be remembered as the Western canon’s most influential Sopranos-inspired Kinks parody song. Write the next verse and put it in a five star review on iTunes. (-Brent Flyberg)

Subscribe to Pod Yourself A Gun on Apple Podcasts.

Email us at [email protected]; leave us a voicemail at 415-275-0030.

Support the Pod: become a patron at patreon.com/Frotcast and get more bonus content than you could ever want.

As you decide whether or not to watch the debate tonight between Donald Trump and Joe Biden (there’s always the bad football game instead), let’s take a moment to remember the other important debate of the week: the Chrises. The universally-decided contenders are Pine, Evans, Hemsworth, and Pratt, but now that the Guardians of the Galaxy star has been named the consensus “worst Chris” (an unfair moniker, his Marvel co-stars claim), maybe it’s time to replace him with another Chris.

Chris Messina, perhaps.

If the criteria for becoming An Official Chris is being handsome, talented, and in superhero movies: he’s three for three. He’s also good in romantic comedies (You’ve Got Mail), sitcoms (The Mindy Project), morbid dramas (Six Feet Under), and whatever the heck The Newsroom was (The Newsroom). But does he think he belongs among the Chrises? When asked by the Cut whether he’s heard of the Chris List, Messina replied, “Yes. And I think there’s only really one Chris… and that’s Christopher Walken.”

Messina belongs in the Chris Club for that answer alone. Walken, too. Obviously.

They should compare dance moves.

Anyway, to recap, the new Chrises are: Walken, Messina, Pine (my personal favorite of the original four), and Lloyd. Show Doc Brown some love.

(Via the Cut)

Bryan Cranston’s grown accustomed to fielding questions of whether Walter White will appear in Better Call Saul‘s final season. While we all wait for concrete news on that front, Breaking Bad devotees will be able to watch Cranston break bad again, but this time, he’ll be on the other side of the law in Showtime’s Your Honor. Or at least, he starts that way as a New Orleans judge whose son kills someone in a hit-and-run. To make matters even more complicated, the someone who was killed happens to be a crime boss’ son, so it looks like his Judge Desiato will be on the run from the mob.

We even see Cranston literally running through a cemetery in this trailer. Even though he’s only running from his secrets at this point, it sure looks dramatic enough because he’s screaming (maybe he’s seeing ghosts? that would be cool), and then we see a house explode, and yes, it’s good to have Bryan Cranston doing crime drama again. Everyone can look forward to Panic-Cranston descending into a high-stakes game of bad choices where no one wins. That, presumably, includes crime boss Jimmy Baxter, who will be portrayed by Michael Stuhlbarg while rustling up some Boardwalk Empire and Fargo Season 3 vibes. Good times!

Your Honor co-stars Margo Martindale (hell yes), Carmen Ejogo, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Sofia Black-D’Elia, Amy Landecker, Lorraine Toussaint, Chet Hanks, Lamar Johnson, and Lilli Kay. The 10-episode limited series debuts on December 6.

The “bad beats” industry is thriving with the expansion of sports betting across the country. ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt, alongside his producer Stanford Steve, delivers a tremendous segment on SportsCenter each week and, with every passing day, bad beats get more attention when they (inevitably) happen. On Sunday, disaster struck backers of the Houston Texans (+3.5) and, if you paid attention to this space last week, you would know that we were also on that side.

If you missed it, the Texans led by one point with two minutes remaining. Then, Houston scored a touchdown, pushing their lead to seven, and they had a chance to put the game away with a two-point conversion to extend the lead to nine. While some saw that as a controversial decision, Houston’s choice to go for two was defensible but, when they didn’t get it, the Titans marched down the field, scoring a touchdown with just seconds to play, making the extra point (instead of missing or going for two) and sending the game to overtime. On cue, Tennessee then won the coin toss, putting the fear of God into every Texans backer, and the Titans went on to score a touchdown, covering the 3.5-point spread in memorable and horrific fashion.

At any rate, Week 6 wasn’t terribly kind to us, and the Texans debacle swung things from a positive week to a negative one. But, as Week 7 arrives, opportunity reigns and, before we get to the picks, here is a glance at how 2020 has gone to this point.

• Week 6: 2-3
• 2020 Season: 18-11-1

Come get these winners.

Philadelphia Eagles (-4.5) over New York Giants

What in the world? A favorite? Of more than a field goal? Yes, a favorite of more than a field goal. The look-ahead line here was -7, and I’ll go ahead and tell you that a move to -4.5 in this spot is enough to get me on Philadelphia. Is it the public side? Probably, but I also believe the Eagles are the solidly better team on a neutral field. Also, home teams have historically been the play on Thursday night, and we can be “Joe Public” for one night.

Pittsburgh Steelers and Tennessee Titans UNDER 24.5 points in the first half

Four consecutive games involving the Titans finished over the total. Three of the five Steelers games in 2020 finished over the total. As such, this number is a bit inflated, both for the full game and the first half. I still like the full game at anything over 50, but the first half is my preference here. It is possible that either team opens it up after the break, especially if a multi-score lead emerges, but I trust Pittsburgh’s defense and Tennessee might lean on Derrick Henry in chewing some clock. Give me all of the punts and field goals.

New England Patriots (-2) over San Francisco 49ers

We don’t give out a lot of favorites in this space, but we’re giving out a second one this week. I love this spot for New England. We faded San Francisco for a few weeks, jumped off that wagon just in time for the Niners to “get right” in Week 6, and now we’re back on the other side. The Niners did look (much) better last week, but this feels like an overreaction, both to what San Francisco did and what New England didn’t do against Denver. If you can snag this at less than a field goal, I think the only side is the tiny home favorite in a buy low spot.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Las Vegas Raiders UNDER 53 points

A Sunday night under! As you’ll see again momentarily, I generally think the numbers have gotten out of control with all of the talk of increased scoring. In this game in particular, the Buccaneers are still a defensive team and, at the moment, that might be the best defensive unit in the league. Las Vegas can certainly score, which is admittedly scary, but this line is a touch high.

Chicago Bears and Los Angeles Rams UNDER 45 points

Another Under is here and we’re taking three totals in the same week. I simply don’t trust the Bears offense to do much of anything and, while the Rams are capable of explosiveness, Chicago is a genuinely strong defensive team. Some of the value is gone from the opener of 47 but, as long as you can catch 45, I think there is enough to pounce on the Under in this spot. Perhaps the Bears will play to their strengths and try to grind this thing out for us.

Juice WRLD was a star before he passed away — 2019’s Death Race For Love was a No. 1 album — and he has remained one since then, as Legends Never Die, his first posthumous release, was also a chart-topper. There have been rumblings that another posthumous album from the late rapper is coming, and Lil Bibby has added more fuel to that fire.

Bibby — an executive at Grade A Productions, the label Juice was signed to — was stopped by The Hollywood Fix for a TMZ-style video interview. When asked what he’s working on, one of the things he mentioned was “Juice WRLD’s next album.” The interviewer then asked, “There’s another album coming?” Realizing he may have let the cat out of the bag, Bibby replied, “[I’m] talking too much.

This isn’t the first time Bibby has indicated that more Juice music is forthcoming. In an interview from this past summer, he said, “I don’t think the albums are gonna stop. It’s plenty of music. So, yeah.” Bibby also let slip in April that another Juice WRLD album will be arriving, as he wrote in the comments of one of his Instagram posts about Juice, “Album coming soon.”

For half a year now, Bibby has been saying a Juice WRLD album is coming, so if he is to be believed, now it’s just a matter of when.

It’s finally pumpkin pie season. That time of the year when the weather has turned and everything you eat is rich, filling, and spice-laden. When a crackling fire and a glass of bourbon are the best companions a person could hope for. When we’d all feel the impulse for a little cozy quarantining, had we not already been doing exactly that for half a year.

It should come as no surprise that, as 2020 winds down, the desire to plant my face in a pumpkin pie is amped up to the Nth degree. Aside from craving comfort food, I legitimately feel peaceful when baking. I long for that tranquility right now.

As far as homemade baked desserts go, pumpkin pie is like a starter course. Cheats abound. Want to use a frozen crust? Go for it. Need to crack open a can of Libby’s? That’ll work, too. For me, making pumpkin pies from scratch was born out of necessity. I’ve lived abroad pretty much exclusively since 2003. Back in the day, if you wanted to make a pumpkin pie in Moscow or Jakarta, you needed to do that shit yourself from top to bottom. There were no pie shells in the freezer sections or cans of puree on the shelves.

The recipe I’m lining out below isn’t particularly difficult, but it’s not the easiest thing in the world either. If you have a little time (I’d bet you do) and a little patience, you can master this recipe and add your own tweaks. The margin for error is pretty big here — when you combine eggs, pumpkin, milk, sugar, and spice it’s hard to make anything un-tasty.

What you’ll need in the kitchen:

• 9-inch pie tin
• Baking dish
• Mixing bowls
• Whisk
• Spatula
• Kitchen knife
• Wooden spoon or fork
• Scale
• Baking sheet
• Sieve
• Box grater
• Rolling pin
• Fork
• Cooling rack

Step 1: Pumpkin Puree

Ingredients:

• 1 Hokkaido Pumpkin
• Sea Salt

This is really simple. Preheat your oven to 400F/175C.

Cut the pumpkin in half. Remove the seeds and all the sinew from the cavity. Place the pumpkin on a baking sheet or in a baking dish. Stab with a fork. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt over each half. Bake for 60 mins.

I check in on my pumpkin after 45 minutes to see if it’s baked. If a fork goes into the flesh without resistance it’s ready. Mine actually took the full 60 minutes this time around.

Let cool for another hour. Use a spoon to scoop the flesh from the skin. Then mash the pumpkin flesh into a puree. It’s really that straightforward and you don’t need to open a can of mystery pumpkin.

When I’m done, I turn the oven up to 425F/220C to preheat it for baking the pie.

Step 2: The Pie Dough

Ingredients:

• 10-oz./285g all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp./5g seal salt
• 4-oz./110g frozen unsalted butter
• 4-oz./110g frozen lard
• Ice water

Method:

There are a million crust recipes out there. I prefer a crust that has a serious flake to it that also gets a bit of a buttery crustiness. To achieve this, I use a half butter and half lard recipe. If you don’t want to use the lard, by all means just use butter.

The first real step here is to weigh out your butter and lard and put it in the freezer for a few hours. You want to be able to grate it while also keeping it as cold as possible.

While the butter and lard are still in the freezer, I weigh out my flour and salt in a mixing bowl. I also prep my small cup of ice water.

Once that’s ready, I fish out the butter and lard and grate it quickly. It should still be frozen when you add it to the flour.

I use a big sort of salad fork thing for smooshing the butter and lard into the flour. You can use a food processor with a blade if you want to. But I find that makes too small of fat pouches in the flour and lowers the flaky/crusty factor down the line. As with southern biscuits, you want ice-cold butter layers that’ll release their water as steam while in the oven and create those flaky layers, leaving behind the fat to render into crisp edges.

Once the butter and lard are roughly mixed in, I start adding the ice water. The amount to use is going to vary wildly depending on where you are. I ended up using 150ml (about five ounces).

Once the flour is hydrated enough to form a rough ball of dough, I use my hands to bring it all together. I then wrap the dough ball in plastic wrap fairly tightly and place that in the fridge to rest and cool back down for anywhere from 30 minutes to two hours.

Step 3: The Filling

Ingredients:

• 2 large eggs plus 1 yolk
• 3.2-oz./90g packed brown sugar
• 1 10-oz./300ml can condensed milk
• 26-oz./.75l pumpkin puree
• 1 tsp./5g ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp./2.5g ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp./2.5g ground allspice
• 1/2 tsp./2.5g ground nutmeg
• 1 pinch of ground clove
• 1 tsp./5g sea salt

EDITOR’S TIP: Vanilla bean at Whole Foods is $8 per bean. Don’t buy it. On eBay, it’s more like $1 per bean. Buy that — add it. Liberally. Use the husk to season your sugar.

Technique:

While your dough is resting in the fridge, you have plenty of time to make the filling. I get my ingredients ready. I weigh out the sugar, separate an egg yolk, open the condensed milk can, weigh out the spices and salt, and make sure my pumpkin puree is room temp or cold. You don’t want to use hot puree from the oven. It’ll scramble the eggs.

First, I add the eggs and brown sugar to a mixing bowl and whisk until fully combined and the whites of the eggs are starting to bubble a bit (maybe three minutes tops).

Next, I add in the can of syrupy condensed milk, spices, salt, and pumpkin puree. I then whisk that until it’s completely emulsified and smells like pumpkin pie. There’ll be a moment when it takes on that iconic pumpkin pie smell and you’ll know you’re on the right path.

Step 4: Roll Out Pie Crust

Snag your pie crust from the fridge. Generously flour your work surface and your rolling pin or wine bottle or whatever you can use to roll out some pie dough.

I place the dough in the middle of the floured counter and start working the dough away from me while turning a quarter-turn after every roll. I make sure to keep plenty of flour on the roller and surface.

I roll my pie dough out to about one-quarter inch thickness with a little extra heft.

I then use the rolling pin to roll the dough up to transfer it to the pie tin (you can use a bottle of wine for this too). I make sure not to press down on the dough while it’s on the rolling pin. I then roll the pin back and unfurl the pie dough over the tin.

I lift the edges of the dough up, which allows the dough to fall into the bottom edges of the tin. I gingerly use the back of my index finger to adhere the dough into the edges, making sure never to stretch the dough.

Finally, I use this weird old three-tined fork that was left at some apartment I moved into somewhere to flute the edges. I basically just push down on the edge of the pie tin with the fork tines and let it slide off the tin, creating the pattern you see below. The tines also cut the excess dough off at the same time.

I place the pie crust back into the fridge for a final ten minute cool down before putting everything together.

Step 5: Bake The Pie

The last step is a crucial one which way too many home cooks skip. You need to run your pie filling through a fine sieve. This is how those French cremes get their airy nature before they’re brulee’d. Running pumpkin pie filling through the sieve takes an extra minute or two but will give your pie a real velvety body. You just have to be patient and work the filling through the sieve with a rubber spatula.

Once that’s done, I fetch my pie crust from the and fill it with the filling. It should come to within a quarter-inch of the top. That’s plenty, as the filling will expand as it bakes.

I place the pie tin on a baking sheet (this is more for ease of transport in and out of the oven than anything else). I place the pie into a 425F/220C oven for 15 minutes. This high temp bake will set the crust (in essence blind baking the crust without having to blind bake it separately).

After 15 minutes, I turn the oven temp down to 350F/175C and set a timer for 40 minutes. After 20 minutes, I turn the pie around and close the oven.

When my timer goes off, I check the pie. It’s still not quite set in the middle. You can tell if you give it a very gentle giggle and there’s still a soupiness to it. You want to avoid that. On this pie, I ended up setting my timer for another ten minutes.

After another ten minutes (65 minutes in total), my pie was done. The giggle in the middle of the pie is more like a firm Jell-O. That’s good. The warmth of the pie will radiate and finish baking the pie as it sits on the counter. It’ll continue to set up from there.

You’ll need to let this pie rest for a minimum of four hours. The puffiness will settle back into the body of the pie as seen below. You’ll know you can cut into it when you can pick up the pie tin and the bottom is room temp to touch.

After four excruciating hours of waiting (and a trip to the grocery store to pick up some vanilla ice cream), my pie was ready to dig into. I slice it into eight portions and start lifting out slices.

This was an exceptional pumpkin pie. The filling was mildly spicy, subtly sweet, creamy, airy, and full of fruity pumpkin earthiness. The crust was spot on. It was flaky, with buttery crisp edges and a nice savoriness thanks to that lard.

Just look at that crispy flaky crust in the photo below. That’s what you want in a pie crust. It’s the building block of the perfect dessert to power you through the end of the year.

Paul George was one of the players to see their NBA 2K rating fall off from the start of the season to the end of it, in large part because of his underwhelming playoff performance in the Bubble.

Speaking with Ronnie 2K ahead of the release of the updated NBA 2K21 player ratings, George not only correctly guessed that he had fallen from a 93 to an 88 in the game, but pledged to improve for next season, not only so that his rating would tick back up but for the Clippers to avenge their second-round loss.

“This is going to be an amazing training going into this next season,” George said. “I’m going to predict I’m around a 95. (For) 2K22, I’ll be like a 96.”

George’s comments here are the first we’ve heard from him since the Clippers fell to Denver in seven games in the second round and George’s “Playoff P” nickname was memed endlessly online. It sounds like George, a top-3 MVP finisher during the 2018-19 campaign, is dedicated to a return to form in 2021.

As an avid gamer himself and someone who is typically pretty involved with NBA 2K, it probably does sting for George to see himself fall off from an MVP candidate in 2019 with a deserved low-90s rating all the way to an 88, which puts him in line with younger players like Devin Booker or Donovan Mitchell.