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Custard Pie (Requires a larger proportion)
Custard pie requires a larger proportion of eggs than cup custard. 1 1/2 cups milk 2 eggs or three yolks 1/8 teaspoon salt 3 tablespoons sugar 1 tablespoon flour Grated yellow rind of one lemon Beat the eggs and mix with them the sugar, flour, salt, and lemon rind. Heat the milk to boiling, and stir it in. Pour into a crust with a built-up edge, and bake in a hot oven at first to cook the crust; afterward decrease the heat, because a custard will separate, or whey, if subjected to too high a temperature. Remove from the oven when just set.
A single-crust custard pie built on the sound principle that a scalded-milk filling sets faster and so gives the crust less time to go soggy. The whole difficulty is heat control.
- Oven temperaturesThe recipe gives none. "A hot oven" in books of this period is usually read as around 425-450F; the later, lower stage is commonly taken as 325-350F, with timings to be judged by eye. Egg proteins begin to tighten and squeeze out water somewhere around 175-185F internally, which is the "whey" the recipe warns of.
- Knowing when it is setRemove the pie when the outer two inches are firm and the centre still trembles as a single mass when the pan is nudged. It carries on cooking off the heat; a filling baked until the middle is firm will weep as it cools.
- Tempering the hot milkAdd the boiling milk to the beaten eggs in a thin stream while stirring, not all at once, or you will get threads of cooked egg. The mixture can be strained into the shell to catch any that form, along with the lemon rind if you prefer a smooth filling.
- The flourOne tablespoon acts chiefly as insurance against separation, though it also thickens the filling slightly. Whisk it into the sugar first so it disperses without lumps.
- Blind-baking the shellThe instruction to build up the edge matters because the filling is thin and liquid. Part-baking the shell for about 10 minutes before filling is a common modern alternative to the hot-oven-first method the recipe describes.
- Egg choiceTwo whole eggs give a firmer, paler custard; three yolks give a richer, softer set and a yellower colour. Either works with 1 1/2 cups milk.
- Size and yieldThe quantity suits a small shell, of the order of 8 inches; the recipe specifies neither pan size nor servings, so scale up by eye if using a 9-inch pan.