A Love Affair with Southern Cooking (59 page)

1 cup granulated sugar

¾ cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1 tablespoon stone-ground cornmeal

¼ teaspoon salt

5 large eggs

¹
/
₃
cup heavy cream

1 tablespoon cider vinegar

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

½ cup (1 stick) butter, melted

One 9-inch unbaked pie shell (see About Pie Crusts, frontmatter)

• 1.
  Preheat the oven to 400° F.
  
• 2.
  Combine the two sugars, the cornmeal, and salt in a medium-size mixing bowl, pressing out all lumps. Beat the eggs in, one by one, then blend in the cream, vinegar, and vanilla. Add the melted butter in a slow, steady stream, beating all the while.
  
• 3.
  Pour the filling into the pie shell, slide the pie onto a baking sheet, and bake on the middle oven shelf for 10 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 325° F. and continue baking for 45 minutes or until puffed and the filling jiggles only slightly when you nudge the pan.
  
• 4.
  Transfer the pie to a wire rack and cool to room temperature before cutting.
  Note:
  The filling will fall somewhat as it cools, but this is the nature of chess pies.
  

NANNIE HALL DAVIS’S “FRENCH” PUDDING PIE

MAKES
8
TO
10
SERVINGS

Like many Virginians, my friend Maria Harrison Reuge was raised on damson plum preserves. This particular recipe, given to me by her parents when I visited them at their James River farm, is a chess-type pie flavored with damson preserves (see Sources, backmatter). The recipe belonged to Maria’s great-grandmother and when I asked if it was French, Maria’s father said, “No. In those days, whenever you thought something extra good, you’d call it French.”

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature

1 cup sugar

4 large eggs, separated

1 cup damson plum preserves (see headnote)

One 10-inch unbaked pie shell (see About Pie Crusts, frontmatter)

Brown Sugar Sauce (optional)

• 1.
  Preheat the oven to 350°F.
  
• 2.
  Cream the butter and sugar in a large electric mixer bowl at moderately high speed for 1 to 2 minutes until light. Beat the egg yolks in one by one, then beat in the preserves,
  ¹
  /
  ₃
  cup at a time. Whip the egg whites to soft peaks and fold into the preserves mixture. Pour the filling into the pie shell.
  
• 3.
  Slide the pie onto a baking sheet and bake in the lower third of the oven for 40 to 45 minutes or until lightly browned and the filling barely jiggles when you nudge the pan.
  
• 4.
  Transfer the pie to a wire rack and cool to room temperature before cutting. Serve as is or, if you like, top each portion with Brown Sugar Sauce.
  

JEFF DAVIS PIE

MAKES
8
SERVINGS

Although born in Kentucky, Jefferson Davis moved to Mississippi when he was a child and grew up there. This rich-as-Croesus pie named in his honor was given to me by my good Mississippi friend, Jean Todd Freeman. The two of us worked together in New York at
The Ladies’ Home Journal
,
I in the food department and Jean as fiction editor. We often traveled about the Deep South on article assignment together and during those trips she taught me much of what I know about it today. Jean told me that this pie recipe is nearly 150 years old and that it had been created by a good plantation cook who admired the president of the Confederacy. I later learned that there are as many stories about the origin of Jeff Davis pie as there are different recipes for it. Some say that the pie was actually created by a freed slave working for a Missouri merchant and that it was
his
admiration for Davis that prompted her to name her pie after him. Some Jeff Davis pies call for brown sugar instead of white; some add nuts, chopped dates and/or raisins; some are heavily spiced; some are made with evaporated milk instead of cream; and some are lavishly swirled about with meringue. I personally prefer Jean’s version. A similar pie—all butter, sugar, and eggs but no milk or cream—is popular in Charleston and elsewhere about the Lowcountry. It’s known as Transparent Pie because its filling, once baked, is nearly clear. Translucent would be a truer description, but a pie named “translucent” hasn’t the appeal or glamour of one called “transparent.”

1¾ cups sugar

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

½ cup (1 stick) butter, at room temperature

1 cup heavy cream

2 large whole eggs

4 large eggs, separated

¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

¼ teaspoon salt

One 9-inch baked pie shell (see About Pie Crusts, frontmatter)

• 1.
  Preheat the oven to 325° F.
  
• 2.
  Combine 1¼ cups of the sugar, the flour, and butter in the top of a double boiler. Whisk in the
  cream, 2 whole eggs, 4 egg yolks, nutmeg, and salt. Set over simmering water and cook and stir for about 10 minutes or until as thick and smooth as custard sauce. Set off the heat.
  
• 3.
  Beat the 4 egg whites with the remaining ½ cup sugar in a large electric mixer bowl at high speed for 2 to 3 minutes or until thick and silvery. Because of the high percentage of sugar, the whites will not whip into a meringue. Gently but thoroughly fold the beaten whites into the custard until no streaks of white or yellow remain.
  
• 4.
  Pour the custard into the pie shell, set the pie onto a baking sheet, and bake on the middle oven shelf for 35 to 40 minutes or until puffed and as brown as caramel.
  
• 5.
  Cool the pie to room temperature on a wire rack, then cover loosely with plastic food wrap and refrigerate for an hour or more until firm.
  
• 6.
  Cut into slim wedges and serve.
  

CLASSIC PECAN PIE

MAKES
8
SERVINGS

I’d always thought that pecan pie predated “the late unpleasantness,” as Southerners used to call the Civil War, or perhaps even belonged to Colonial Days. But in researching my
American Century Cookbook
(1997), I discovered to my great surprise that it became popular only in the twentieth century. Even John Egerton, a southern culinary historian and author whom I respect, says that he’s found “no recipes or other bits of evidence to prove” that pecan pie existed long ago. Another food historian, Meryle Evans,
believes that pecan pie dates only as far back as 1925 and that it was created by Karo home economists to “push product.” The majority of pecan pies do contain corn syrup—either light or dark. I prefer the former. I also prefer this recipe given to me by a friendly neighbor who loved to teach “the little Yankee girl,” as she called me, all about southern food. I was an eager pupil.

¹¹
/
₃
cups perfect pecan halves

One 9-inch baked pie shell (see About Pie Crusts, frontmatter)

1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1 cup light corn syrup

3 large eggs, lightly beaten

2 tablespoons lightly browned melted butter

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

¼ teaspoon salt

• 1.
  Preheat the oven to 350° F. Arrange the pecans in concentric circles in the bottom of the pie shell and set aside.
  
• 2.
  Blend all remaining ingredients together until smooth and carefully ladle into the pie shell, trying not to dislodge the pecans. They will float to the top as the pie bakes.
  
• 3.
  Slide the pie onto a baking sheet and bake on the middle oven shelf for 45 to 50 minutes or until puffed and golden brown.
  
• 4.
  Transfer the pie to a wire rack and cool to room temperature, then cut into slim wedges. Serve as is or top with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream—“to cut the richness,” Southerners say.
  

ALABAMA PEANUT PIE

MAKES
8
SERVINGS

Although George Washington Carver (see box, Chapter 6) is credited with creating peanut butter, the peanut butter cookie, and numerous other peanut desserts, this particular pie may or may not be his. It’s something I adapted from an anonymous recipe in an old southern community cookbook.

1 cup blanched, shelled raw peanuts

1 cup sorghum molasses or dark corn syrup

½ cup sugar

½ cup (1 stick) butter, at room temperature

3 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

One 9-inch unbaked pie shell (see About Pie Crusts, frontmatter)

• 1.
  Preheat the oven to 325° F.
  
• 2.
  Spread the peanuts in an ungreased baking pan and roast slowly until golden; this will take 15 to 18 minutes. Remove the peanuts from the oven and raise the temperature to 350° F.
  
• 3.
  Cool the peanuts, then grind very fine (a food processor does this in about 30 seconds). Empty the nuts into a large mixing bowl, add the molasses, sugar, butter, eggs, vanilla, salt, and nutmeg, and beat hard until smooth and creamy.
  
• 4.
  Pour the filling into the pie shell and slide onto a baking sheet. Bake in the lower third of the oven for about 50 minutes or until puffed, nicely browned, and a cake tester inserted halfway between the edge and the center comes out clean.
  
• 5.
  Cool the pie to room temperature before cutting. Make the pieces small; this pie is very rich. Serve as is or top with whipped cream or, if you prefer, with scoops of vanilla or dulce de leche ice cream.
  

GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE ORANGE AND LEMON CAKE