The message
from Janet Baraclough contains these words:

Surely the issue is that British 'cooking apples' cook down to a paste

Not!

Is so!

whereas other apples don't. Non-british recipes expect apples to stay
in pieces rather than becoming a paste.

I'd say it was exactly the other way round.

Not in a thousand years!

I loathe sweet apple pie
filled with mush/paste.

It's only as sweet as the extra sugar you put in, and only 'mushy' if
you add water when you cook the apples - if you don't cook them in the
crust. I grant you, there are sometimes some lumps in the pulp if you do
it that way, but not if the apples are approaching ripeness.

A proper apple pie, as made by my ma or me, has
fruit pieces which are still visually distinct and intact,, and even
though it contains some added sugar, there's still the delicious hint of
cooking-apple tartness in the taste. That's why the bland smooth(real)
custard or cream sets it off to perfection. The apple-pie texture in the
mouth should be a heavenly tripartite combo of firm/crisp pastry,
non-mushy fruit, (but not al dente)and some drooly juice.

My mother's apple pie was the best in the world, so nyahhhhhh!

--
Rusty
horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co full-stop uk
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/