Hugh Yemen Asks...
The Comments
Larry Finch
Alice Gomez
Don Seltzer
The Recipes
Astrid Bear
Huiling Gan
John Gosden
Lemon Rocket Fuel - Edmund Burton
Hugh Yemen Asks...
All this talk about pie has gotten me thinking again about the mind-blowingly delicious key lime pie I had on Monday. It was Grace's birthday, and she requested that I pick up a pie from Whole Foods. I didn't think I would enjoy it that much because I *thought* I wan't terribly fond of key lime pies. Turns out I ain't had a *good* key lime pie before. By the time I'd gotten halfway through the first piece I knew that nothing could stop me from having a third. It's been long and long since I so enjoyed a pie that I didn't make.
Now I'd like to try my hand at key lime, but my Betty Crocker Cookbook from 1972 doesn't have a recipe for it! So, would any of you be willing to pass along a cherished recipe?
The Comments
Larry Finch
Well, ya'see, the whole secret is getting your hands on Key Limes. They're rarer than hen's teeth, but only the real ones make a pie worth eating.
Alice Gomez
Not to put too fine a point on it, if you don't have key limes, you can't call it a Key Lime Pie. Maybe a citrus pie, or a lime pie, but not a Key Lime Pie. See the Wikipedia article on Key Limes.
In spite of the fact that my grocery store puts a sign up over the dead and dying limes, naming them Key Limes, some of us know that Key Limes look like dead and dying lemons.
Don Seltzer
Key Lime Pie is not to my liking, but my wife occasionally makes them for friends who do. The juice does make a key difference. Lacking the real Key limes, you can buy the juice in concentrated form. I believe that William Sonoma is one source.
The Recipes
Astrid Bear
From "Joy of Cooking", and it sounds awfully good, although I haven't made it:
Key Lime Pie
Prepare in a 9 inch pie pan, a baked flaky crust, or a baked graham cracker crust. Let cool.
Preheat oven to 325F, rack in center.
Whisk together:
15 oz can sweetened condensed milk
4 large egg yolks
1/2 c. strained fresh lime juice (and as Larry says, the real Key Limes are, well, key)
3 to 4 T grated lime zest
The mixture will thicken as the milk reacts with the acidic citrus juice.
Pour the filling into the cooled pie crust. For a pie without a meringue topping, bake until the center looks set but still quivery, like gelatin, 15-17 minutes. Let cool completely on a rack, then refrigerate until cold.
Serve with sweetened whipped cream.
Or, for a pie with a meringue topping, let the unbaked pie stand at room temp while you measure these ingredients in a small saucepan:
1 T cornstarch
1 T. sugar
Mix well, then add 1/3 c. water to make a smooth paste. Bring to boil over medium heat, stirring all the while, then boil for 15 seconds. Remove the pot from the heat (it will be a thick, translucent paste) and cover with a lid.
In a very clean, grease-free bowl, beat 4 large egg whites until foamy.
Add:
1/2 t. vanilla
1/4 t. cream of tartar
And beat until soft peaks form. Very gradually beat in:
1/2 c. sugar
Then beat high speed until peaks are very stiff and glossy but not dry.
Reduce the speed to very low and add the cornstarch paste 1 tablespoon at a time.
When all the paste is incorporated, increase the speed to medium and beat for 10 seconds. Immediately spread over a hot meringue pie filling, anchoring it to the edge of the crust. Bake as directed by the recipe.
Which, if you are still with me, says:
Bake the pie until the filling thickens just enough to support the topping, 5-7 minutes, but no longer. Meanwhile, finish the meringue. Spread a band of meringue around the edges of the filling, anchoring it to the crust at all points. Dollop the remaining meringue over the center and smooth the top. Bake for 20 minutes more. Let cool completely on a rack, then refrigerate until cold or up to one day.
This meringue recipe says that it will not weep, leak, or deflate even when
refrigerated. No notes about speaking chuff, or murmuring.
Huiling Gan
This key lime pie recipe was from a postcard I bought in Key West 15 years ago. I have been making this pie ever since, with slight modification:
Key Lime Pie
Ingredients
4 eggs, separated
1/2 cup key lime juice
14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1 graham crust
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/3 cup of sugar
Beat egg yolks until light and thick. Blend in lime juice, then milk, stirring until mixture thickens. Pour into graham crust. Beat egg whites with cream of tartar until stiff. Gradually beat in sugar, beating until glossy peaks form. Spread egg whites over surface of pie to edge of crust.
Bake at 350-degree oven for 20 minutes. Chill before serving.
I don't like the meringue on top, so I leave that out. I also fold in one beaten egg white into the yolks mixture before baking to lighten the filling.
John Gosden
Here are two, to my mind the second better than the first:
Key Lime Pie (Jane Grigson)
Ingredients:
9-inch flan tin lined with short crust pastry made with 8oz flour, 4 oz butter, 2 dsp sugar and one egg, baked blind for 25 minutes at 200C. Remove greaseproof and baking beans/rice and bake a further 5-10 minutes at 160C till pastry is set and lightly coloured.
5 egg yolks
3 egg whites
14 oz can Nestle sweetened condensed milk
Zest and juice of about 10 limes (enough to give 5 fl oz juice)
Method:
Beat yolks until thick and pale (electric beater is easiest). Add condensed milk and beat until thoroughly mixed. Stir in lime zest and juice. Beat whites to soft peak and fold into egg/lime mix. Transfer to pastry case and bake at 160C for 20-30 minutes, until set and lightly coloured.
Cool and either eat fresh or refrigerate.
Key Lime Pie [2] (Jane Grigson)
Ingredients:
9-inch tart tin lined with
22 digestive biscuits, crushed and mixed with
2 oz melted butter, still warm
bake 10 min at 180 C. Cool
5 egg yolks
4 egg whites
4 oz caster sugar
2 tsp grated lime zest
5 fl oz lime juice
2 oz sugar
pinch salt
Method:
Beat egg yolks over simmering water till thick. Gradually beat in 4 oz caster sugar, beating till mixture is pale and thready. Remove from heat. Add lime zest and juice. Beat egg whites to soft peak with pinch of salt, then add 2 oz sugar beating till stiff. Fold into lime custard, pile into crust and bake 15 min at 180C. Cool, then chill and freeze. Remove from freezer 10 min before needed. Top with whipped cream and thin slices of lime, or strawberries dipped in caster sugar.
Lemon Rocket Fuel - Edmund Burton
Combine une boîte condensed sweetened milk (aux USA Eagle Brand, en France Nestlé) with a couple of tablespoons (ou cuillerées &agreave; soupe) of lemon juice. The milk thickens to roughly the same consistency as cheesecake. Thanks to Vaughn Stephenson.
Scott Sessions proposes the following variation:
Crush "Dirty Cookies" (the ones like animal crackers) and add melted margarine until moldable.
Press mixture into a pie tin.
Put 2 or 3 cans of sweetened condensed milk in a large bowl, and saturate the milk with lemon juice preferably from real lemons. Add a little at a time stirring thoroughly. Continue this process until the milk can't take any more juice. [If you come up short, this isn't a problem.]
Pour the lemon-milk mixture into the pie crust and fill to top. Refrigerate for an hour and then enjoy your dessert...on the moon! This is so potently sour and sweet that it sends you to outer space...hence the name...Rocket Fuel.
The Comments
Larry Finch
Alice Gomez
Don Seltzer
The Recipes
Astrid Bear
Huiling Gan
John Gosden
Lemon Rocket Fuel - Edmund Burton
Hugh Yemen Asks...
All this talk about pie has gotten me thinking again about the mind-blowingly delicious key lime pie I had on Monday. It was Grace's birthday, and she requested that I pick up a pie from Whole Foods. I didn't think I would enjoy it that much because I *thought* I wan't terribly fond of key lime pies. Turns out I ain't had a *good* key lime pie before. By the time I'd gotten halfway through the first piece I knew that nothing could stop me from having a third. It's been long and long since I so enjoyed a pie that I didn't make.
Now I'd like to try my hand at key lime, but my Betty Crocker Cookbook from 1972 doesn't have a recipe for it! So, would any of you be willing to pass along a cherished recipe?
The Comments
Larry Finch
Well, ya'see, the whole secret is getting your hands on Key Limes. They're rarer than hen's teeth, but only the real ones make a pie worth eating.
Alice Gomez
Not to put too fine a point on it, if you don't have key limes, you can't call it a Key Lime Pie. Maybe a citrus pie, or a lime pie, but not a Key Lime Pie. See the Wikipedia article on Key Limes.
In spite of the fact that my grocery store puts a sign up over the dead and dying limes, naming them Key Limes, some of us know that Key Limes look like dead and dying lemons.
Don Seltzer
Key Lime Pie is not to my liking, but my wife occasionally makes them for friends who do. The juice does make a key difference. Lacking the real Key limes, you can buy the juice in concentrated form. I believe that William Sonoma is one source.
The Recipes
Astrid Bear
From "Joy of Cooking", and it sounds awfully good, although I haven't made it:
Key Lime Pie
Prepare in a 9 inch pie pan, a baked flaky crust, or a baked graham cracker crust. Let cool.
Preheat oven to 325F, rack in center.
Whisk together:
15 oz can sweetened condensed milk
4 large egg yolks
1/2 c. strained fresh lime juice (and as Larry says, the real Key Limes are, well, key)
3 to 4 T grated lime zest
The mixture will thicken as the milk reacts with the acidic citrus juice.
Pour the filling into the cooled pie crust. For a pie without a meringue topping, bake until the center looks set but still quivery, like gelatin, 15-17 minutes. Let cool completely on a rack, then refrigerate until cold.
Serve with sweetened whipped cream.
Or, for a pie with a meringue topping, let the unbaked pie stand at room temp while you measure these ingredients in a small saucepan:
1 T cornstarch
1 T. sugar
Mix well, then add 1/3 c. water to make a smooth paste. Bring to boil over medium heat, stirring all the while, then boil for 15 seconds. Remove the pot from the heat (it will be a thick, translucent paste) and cover with a lid.
In a very clean, grease-free bowl, beat 4 large egg whites until foamy.
Add:
1/2 t. vanilla
1/4 t. cream of tartar
And beat until soft peaks form. Very gradually beat in:
1/2 c. sugar
Then beat high speed until peaks are very stiff and glossy but not dry.
Reduce the speed to very low and add the cornstarch paste 1 tablespoon at a time.
When all the paste is incorporated, increase the speed to medium and beat for 10 seconds. Immediately spread over a hot meringue pie filling, anchoring it to the edge of the crust. Bake as directed by the recipe.
Which, if you are still with me, says:
Bake the pie until the filling thickens just enough to support the topping, 5-7 minutes, but no longer. Meanwhile, finish the meringue. Spread a band of meringue around the edges of the filling, anchoring it to the crust at all points. Dollop the remaining meringue over the center and smooth the top. Bake for 20 minutes more. Let cool completely on a rack, then refrigerate until cold or up to one day.
This meringue recipe says that it will not weep, leak, or deflate even when
refrigerated. No notes about speaking chuff, or murmuring.
Huiling Gan
This key lime pie recipe was from a postcard I bought in Key West 15 years ago. I have been making this pie ever since, with slight modification:
Key Lime Pie
Ingredients
4 eggs, separated
1/2 cup key lime juice
14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1 graham crust
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/3 cup of sugar
Beat egg yolks until light and thick. Blend in lime juice, then milk, stirring until mixture thickens. Pour into graham crust. Beat egg whites with cream of tartar until stiff. Gradually beat in sugar, beating until glossy peaks form. Spread egg whites over surface of pie to edge of crust.
Bake at 350-degree oven for 20 minutes. Chill before serving.
I don't like the meringue on top, so I leave that out. I also fold in one beaten egg white into the yolks mixture before baking to lighten the filling.
John Gosden
Here are two, to my mind the second better than the first:
Key Lime Pie (Jane Grigson)
Ingredients:
9-inch flan tin lined with short crust pastry made with 8oz flour, 4 oz butter, 2 dsp sugar and one egg, baked blind for 25 minutes at 200C. Remove greaseproof and baking beans/rice and bake a further 5-10 minutes at 160C till pastry is set and lightly coloured.
5 egg yolks
3 egg whites
14 oz can Nestle sweetened condensed milk
Zest and juice of about 10 limes (enough to give 5 fl oz juice)
Method:
Beat yolks until thick and pale (electric beater is easiest). Add condensed milk and beat until thoroughly mixed. Stir in lime zest and juice. Beat whites to soft peak and fold into egg/lime mix. Transfer to pastry case and bake at 160C for 20-30 minutes, until set and lightly coloured.
Cool and either eat fresh or refrigerate.
Key Lime Pie [2] (Jane Grigson)
Ingredients:
9-inch tart tin lined with
22 digestive biscuits, crushed and mixed with
2 oz melted butter, still warm
bake 10 min at 180 C. Cool
5 egg yolks
4 egg whites
4 oz caster sugar
2 tsp grated lime zest
5 fl oz lime juice
2 oz sugar
pinch salt
Method:
Beat egg yolks over simmering water till thick. Gradually beat in 4 oz caster sugar, beating till mixture is pale and thready. Remove from heat. Add lime zest and juice. Beat egg whites to soft peak with pinch of salt, then add 2 oz sugar beating till stiff. Fold into lime custard, pile into crust and bake 15 min at 180C. Cool, then chill and freeze. Remove from freezer 10 min before needed. Top with whipped cream and thin slices of lime, or strawberries dipped in caster sugar.
Lemon Rocket Fuel - Edmund Burton
Combine une boîte condensed sweetened milk (aux USA Eagle Brand, en France Nestlé) with a couple of tablespoons (ou cuillerées &agreave; soupe) of lemon juice. The milk thickens to roughly the same consistency as cheesecake. Thanks to Vaughn Stephenson.
Scott Sessions proposes the following variation:
Crush "Dirty Cookies" (the ones like animal crackers) and add melted margarine until moldable.
Press mixture into a pie tin.
Put 2 or 3 cans of sweetened condensed milk in a large bowl, and saturate the milk with lemon juice preferably from real lemons. Add a little at a time stirring thoroughly. Continue this process until the milk can't take any more juice. [If you come up short, this isn't a problem.]
Pour the lemon-milk mixture into the pie crust and fill to top. Refrigerate for an hour and then enjoy your dessert...on the moon! This is so potently sour and sweet that it sends you to outer space...hence the name...Rocket Fuel.