Different takes on apple pie abound in Northeastern cookery. One of the oldest is apple pan dowdy. Made with the ingredients of apple pie plus molasses, it traditionally is baked in a square pan with crust at the top and bottom. Speculation about the origin of its name runs in two directions: It is dowdy meaning “homely,” or its crust is dowdied (broken into pieces) before it is served. It was pretty well forgotten by the mid-twentieth century in all but the most hidebound kitchens until singer Dinah Shore topped the music charts in 1946 with a novelty song about Pennsylvania Dutch cooking called “Shoo-Fly Pie and Apple Pan Dowdy,” about which she sang, “Makes your eyes light up and your stomach say howdy.” Today virtually any time one sees the recipe in print, its name contains the modifier old-fashioned.