Chocolate Pie

This is a stovetop custard filling for a pre-baked shell, in the style of a cream pie. The quantities are given in the kitchen-object measures of the period, so the first job is translating them.

• Bitter chocolate"Bitter chocolate" means unsweetened baking chocolate, not modern dark eating chocolate. A piece half the size of an egg is roughly 1 ounce, or one square of a standard baking bar; the cupful of sugar is calibrated to that unsweetened base.
• Butter the size of a hickory nutRoughly 1 to 2 teaspoons; a hickory nut kernel is about the size of a small hazelnut, and this quantity is for gloss and richness rather than structure.
• Temper the eggsThe yolks are stirred dry with the sugar and flour, then added straight to boiling liquid. Slacken the sugar-flour-yolk mixture with a ladleful of the hot chocolate milk first, then return it all to the pan, or you will get threads of cooked yolk through the custard.
• "Until well cooked"The flour needs to come to a gentle boil and hold it a minute or two, stirring constantly, or the filling will taste pasty and may thin out again as it cools. It should coat the back of a spoon heavily before it leaves the heat.
• Thickening strengthOne heaping tablespoon of flour to two cupfuls of liquid gives a soft, spoonable filling rather than a sliceable one. If you want clean wedges, expect a looser set than a modern cream pie and chill it thoroughly.
• The shellThe recipe gives no crust instructions. Since the custard is fully cooked on the stove and needs no further baking, bake a single crust blind and cool it before filling.
• The leftover whitesTwo whites are left over; a meringue beaten with a few tablespoons of sugar and briefly browned is one common use, though this recipe says nothing about it.
• YieldAbout two cupfuls of filling, enough for one modest single-crust pie.