LEMON PECAN PIE

Prep Time: 10 minutes Cook Time: 45 to 50 minutes
Yield: One 8 piece pie

1 (9-inch) unbaked or frozen deep-dish pie crust

1 cup light corn syrup
4 eggs
6 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons grated lemon rind
1-1/4 cups coarsely chopped pecans
Whipped cream (optional)

1. Bake pastry shell at 450°F for 5 to 7 minutes. Remove from oven and cool completely. Reduce oven temperature to 350°F.

2. Combine corn syrup, eggs, butter, brown sugar, lemon juice, flour and lemon rind in a medium mixing bowl; stir in pecans and pour into completely cooled pie crust.

3. Bake at 350°F for 40 minutes, shielding edges with aluminum foil after 25 minutes if necessary to prevent over-browning. Cool on a wire rack.

4. Serve with whipped cream if desired.

History Of Pie

The History Of Pie

The pie has been around since about 2000 B.C., around the time of the ancient Egyptians. At some point between 1400 B.C. (the time of Greek settlements) and 600 B.C. (the time of the decline of Egypt), the pie is believed to have been passed on to the Greeks by the Egyptians.

From Greece the pie spread to Rome, somewhere around 100 B.C. by which time pies had already been around for some 1000 years. The first known pie recipe came from the Romans and was for a rye-crusted goat cheese and honey pie.

Pies appeared in England in the 12th century and were predominantly meat pies. The crust of the pie was referred to as the “coffyn” and there was generally more crust than filling. Sometimes these pies were made with fowl and the legs were left outside the pie to act as handles. For a long time the pastry crust was actually not eaten, serving only to preserve the moisture and flavor of the filling.

Pies went to America with the first English settlers. As in Roman times the early American pie crusts were not eaten, but simply designed to hold the filling. Today, virtually every country in the world has some form of pie.

PECAN PIE

Pecan pie is a sweet custard pie made primarily of corn syrup and pecan nuts. It is served at holiday meals and is also considered a specialty of Southern U.S.A. cuisine. Most pecan pie recipes include salt, vanilla and maple syrup as flavorings. Other ingredients such as chocolate and bourbon whiskey are popular additions to the recipe. Pecan pie is often served with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream [a la mode].

New Orleans Pecan Pie

The tradition holds that the French created pecan pie soon after settling in

New Orleans, after being introduced to the nut by Native Americans. It is sometimes referred to as "New Orleans pecan pie," adding an aura of French cuisine to a home-cooked comfort food. Attempts to trace the origin have, however, not found any recipes earlier than 1925, and well-known cookbooks such as Fannie Farmer and The Joy of Cooking did not include it before 1940.

The process for refining corn sugar was not developed until the 1880s. Thus, the corn syrup which is considered an essential part of the modern recipe was not available to the settlers of New Orleans.

There is no doubt that the makers of Karo Syrup popularized the dish, and many recipes—even one ascribed to a well-known New Orleans restaurant—specify Karo syrup by name as an ingredient. This suggests a prosaic 20th-century origin in Karo promotion, and in fact the maker's website currently credits the dish as a 1930s "discovery" of a "new use for corn syrup" by a corporate sales executive's wife. The company asserts that "Down South, today, that same recipe continues to be called Karo Pie" but in fact this name for the dish seems to be rare.

RECIPE

Classic TARTINE Pecan Pie

Prep Time: 15 minutes Cook Time: 55 to 60 minutes Yield: 1 pie
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup Light OR Dark Corn Syrup
2 tablespoons butter OR margarine, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups (6 ounces or 170gr.) pecans
1 (9-inch or 23cm) unbaked or frozen deep-dish pie crust
1. Preheat oven to 350°F [190C].
2. Beat eggs slightly with fork in medium bowl. Add sugar, Corn Syrup, butter and vanilla; stir until blended. Stir in pecans. Place pie dough in pie pan. Pour pecan filling into pie crust.
3. Bake 55 to 60 minutes or until knife inserted halfway between center and edge comes out clean. Cool on wire rack.
4. TIPS: Pie is done when center reaches 200°F. Tap center surface of pie lightly - it should spring back when done. For easy clean up, spray pie pan with cooking spray before placing pie crust in pan. If pie crust is over-browning, cover edges with foil.