Cream Pie
Perhaps this pie may be considered somewhat extravagant, but it is unusually good, and may be used for special occasions: 4 egg yolks 1/3 cup sugar 1/4 cup flour 2 tablespoons butter substitute 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 pint milk A few grains salt Mix flour, sugar, and salt. Beat the egg yolks, and stir them and the butter substitute and vanilla into the flour and sugar. Heat the milk to boiling, and stir it into the egg mixture. Pour into a crust which has a built-up edge, and bake till set. Add a few grains salt to the whites of the eggs, and beat them stiff. Fold into them one-fourth cup sugar, spread this on top of the pie, and set on the oven grate to brown delicately.
A boiled-milk custard poured into a pastry shell and finished with a meringue. The whole thing hinges on temperature control: custard that boils in the oven curdles and weeps.
- Butter substituteIn books of this period this means margarine, a nut butter, or a vegetable shortening, used either for wartime economy or on health-reform principles. Two tablespoons of unsalted butter behaves the same way here.
- Oven heatThe recipe gives no temperature. A hot start of around 425F for the first 10 minutes helps firm the pastry before dropping to 325-350F to finish, roughly 25-35 minutes; a steady moderate 350F throughout will also work, though the bottom crust will be softer. Times will vary with the depth of the shell.
- Knowing when it is set"Bake till set" means the outer two inches are firm and the centre still wobbles as a single mass when the pan is nudged. It finishes setting as it cools; baked until firm all through, it will crack and weep.
- Tempering the eggsPour the boiling milk into the egg and flour mixture in a thin stream while whisking, not the reverse. Four yolks and a quarter cup of flour give a thick, sliceable custard rather than a loose one.
- The crustA "built-up edge" is a high rim to hold a full pint of liquid custard. The recipe fills an unbaked shell; partially blind-baking it (around 12 minutes at 400F) before filling will give a crisper base if you prefer one.
- The meringueFour whites with only a quarter cup of sugar is a soft, lightly sweetened meringue by modern standards. Spread it so it touches the pastry rim all the way round, and brown in a moderate oven rather than under a fierce top heat, so the interior cooks through instead of just colouring.
- Yield and servingOne pie, probably 8 or 9 inches, six to eight slices. Cool completely before cutting, at least three hours; refrigerate any leftovers, as this is an egg and milk custard.
Cream pie in American usage means a milk custard thickened with flour or cornstarch and enriched with yolks, distinct from the plain baked custard pie that sets on eggs alone. The thickened version travels better and slices cleanly, and the same flour-thickened base underlies the banana, coconut and chocolate cream pies familiar later. The phrase "butter substitute" suggests a book from the era when margarines, nut butters and vegetable shortenings were promoted both as wartime economies and, in some health-reform kitchens, as replacements for animal fat on principle. The author's opening apology for extravagance fits that frame: four yolks and a pint of milk were a real outlay in a household counting eggs, and the dish is offered as an occasional indulgence rather than everyday fare.