Lemon Pie IV
3 eggs 2/3 cup sugar 1/4 cup lemon juice Grated rind 1/2 lemon 2 tablespoons water Beat eggs slightly, add sugar, lemon juice, grated rind, and water. Bake in one crust in a moderate oven. Cool slightly, cover with Meringue II, then return to oven and bake meringue.
Lemon Pie V 1 cup sugar 3 tablespoons flour 3 tablespoons lemon juice Yolks 2 eggs 1 cup milk 1 tablespoon melted butter Whites 2 eggs Few grains salt Mix sugar and flour, add lemon juice, egg yolks slightly beaten, milk, butter, whites of eggs beaten stiff, and salt. Bake in one crust, and cover with meringue or not, as desired.
Mince Pie Meat I 4 lbs. lean beef 2 lbs. beef suet Baldwin apples 3 quinces 3 lbs. sugar 2 cups molasses 2 quarts cider 4 lbs. raisins, seeded and cut in pieces 3 lbs. currants 1/2 lb. finely cut citron 1 quart cooking brandy 1 tablespoon cinnamon and mace 1 tablespoon powdered clove 2 grated nutmegs 1 teaspoon pepper Salt to taste Cover meat and suet with boiling water and cook until tender, cool in water in which they are cooked; the suet will rise to top, forming a cake of fat, which may be easily removed. Finely chop meat, and add it to twice the amount of finely chopped apples. The apples should be quartered, cored, and pared, previous to chopping, or skins may be left on, which is not an objection if apples are finely chopped. Add quinces finely chopped, sugar, molasses, cider, raisins, currants, and citron; also suet, and stock in which meat and suet were cooked, reduced to one and one-half cups. Heat gradually, stir occasionally, and cook slowly two hours; then add brandy and spices.
A plain baked lemon custard in a single crust, finished with meringue. It is a small quantity of filling, so the pan and the crust matter more than usual.
- Oven temperatureA moderate oven is usually taken as somewhere around 350F. The recipe gives no heat or time for the meringue stage; bake it only until the peaks are set and lightly browned.
- Yield and pan sizeThree eggs with two-thirds of a cup of sugar and only about six tablespoons of liquid makes a shallow layer. Use an 8-inch plate rather than a 9-inch, and expect six modest servings.
- Lemon juiceA quarter cup is the juice of one and a half to two medium lemons. Grate the rind from an unwaxed lemon before juicing, taking the yellow only and none of the white pith.
- Knowing when the custard is setThis is an egg custard, not a starch-thickened filling, so it will not thicken on the stove and cannot be tested by boiling. Pull it when the outer inch is firm and the centre still trembles slightly, around 175F on a thermometer; carryover heat finishes it.
- Eggs for the meringueAll three eggs go into the filling whole, so the meringue calls for whites from separate eggs. Meringue II is a cross-reference not given on this page; two whites with about four tablespoons of sugar is a workable amount for a pie this size.
- Preventing a weeping meringueSpread the meringue over filling that is still warm, not cold, and seal it against the pastry rim all the way round. Avoid overbaking, which is the usual cause of beads on the surface.