Lessons from Normandy
Here at the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings, an old German pistol gives a stark warning to our current defense strategy
My friend Alfred Valenti would have turned 101 this year. I often think of him around D-Day, as he entered Europe in World War II through Utah Beach. This week I wrote about “Fred,” as I called him, and the old German P38 he found in Hitler’s Atlantikwall.
Alfred Valenti in Paris, 1944. I used to joke with Fred that he got to liberate the wine and women of Paris, while my generation got to liberate the burkas and dust of Kabul.
On his 96th birthday, Fred gave me that Walter P38, which shoots better than any modern 9mm sidearm I’ve ever fired. At 80 years old, it still looks fresh and new, a testament to German engineering. With its eerie Wehrmacht stampings, it’s an eerie warning to future generations about the folly of Germany’s strategy?
What was that strategy? Germany believed its superior technology and precision manufacturing would overcome the Allies mass. It didn’t. As I explain in this week’s column, mass matters. With America’s current reliance on wonder weapons, we run the risk of making the same errors as our last great-power adversary.
🥧 American as Apple Pie
People ask me how to become a food critic in this day and age. Truth is, I have no idea. When I was a food critic, Instagram didn’t exist. Now, influencer chefs like Ana Sofia make baking even a simple apple pie look dramatic. Mine apple pie is far simpler, but I insist on not using store-bought crust. From my book, Off the Eaten Path:
1 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 lbs. of apples, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/2-inch thick wedges
Combine the first four ingredients in a large bowl, stir well. Then add apples, tossing to coat. Voila, you’re done with the pie filling. Now on to the pie crust
2 1/2 cups all- purpose flour
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces
8 - 9 tablespoons of ice-cold water
Pulse the first three ingredients in a food processor 3-4 times until combined. Add butter pieces through the chute and pulse 12 times or until crumbly. Then, with your processor running, slowly add the ice-cold water until the dough forms a ball and leaves the side of the bowl. Shape the dough into two flat disks, wrap in wax paper or cellophane, and chill for an hour or two. This makes enough for one double-pie crust, as pictured above.
To assemble your pie: preheat the oven to 375 degrees and roll each pie crust portion into a 13” circle on a well-floured surface. Fit half the dough into a well-greased 9-inch deep pie plate. (Grease your plate with butter. Did you have to ask?) Spoon your apple mixture into the crust, packing tightly and mounding towards the center. Then, add your top crust. I prefer a lattice work, but this is where one can be creative like an Insta influencer. Beat one egg and paint the top of your crust with the wash, then sprinkle with a few pinches of sugar.
Bake on the lowest rack of the oven for one hour or until the crust is a golden brown, the apples are tender, and the juices are thickened and bubbly. I recommend cooling for two hours before serving, but nobody at my house ever waits that long.
🍏🍎 Which apple? People make a fuss over needing something firm and not too sweet. I just use whatever I have around. It’s apple pie.
🥓 Quick Bites
If you’re new to Tastes of Victory, you can access all the ToV newsletters right here on Substack. You can also jump to:
🥓 My opinion pieces on America’s National Security, including my past work in Newsmax, The Washington Times, and other outlets.
🥧 Favorite stories from the archives from my writing for Southern Living, Vanity Fair, Forbes, and Esquire.
🧂 And if you really want to dive into what’s going on with national security in Washington, don’t miss my work as a senior fellow with America First Policy Instituteand as a weekly columnist for the Daily Caller News Foundation.
🥃 Did you want try some of my books? Warning: just reading them might cause unexpected weigh gain. But if you fancy diving into my food trapezoid of bourbon, salt, bacon, and pie they’re right here on Amazon.