Orange Pie
4 tablespoons cornstarch 3/4 cup sugar 2 eggs Juice of 1 orange Grated yellow portion of 1/2 of the rind of the orange 1 cup and 2 tablespoons boiling water 1/2 tablespoon butter substitute 1 tablespoon lemon juice A few grains salt Mix the cornstarch and sugar. Then mix with it the orange juice and rind, the egg yolks, the oil, salt, and lemon juice. Stir in the boiling water, and cook till thickened. Pour into a baked crust. Meringue with the whites of the eggs beaten stiff and three tablespoons sugar folded into them.
A cornstarch-thickened citrus pie of the lemon-meringue family, built in a pan and poured into a crust that is already baked. The filling is thin enough to matter, so the cooking of the starch is where this succeeds or fails.
- The hinge: cook the starch outBring the mixture to a full boil and hold it there, stirring, for a good minute or two after it thickens. Raw egg yolks contain an enzyme that will thin a starch-bound filling as it stands, and only sustained heat destroys it. A filling pulled off at the first sign of thickening will weep in the crust.
- Butter substituteThe term most likely means oleomargarine or a vegetable shortening; the method's reference to "the oil" appears to point to the same ingredient, since no oil is otherwise listed. Use half a tablespoon of butter or margarine; at that quantity it is for gloss and flavour, not structure.
- Orange juice is a variableOne orange yields anywhere from a scant third of a cup to well over half, and that swing changes both the tartness and the set. Measure it, aim for about 1/3 cup, and make up any shortfall with water rather than adding more juice than the starch can carry.
- Zest technique"Grated yellow portion of the rind" means only the coloured outer layer, taken off with a fine grater or rasp. Any white pith carried along with it turns the filling bitter.
- Meringue needs an ovenThe original stops at folding the sugar in. Spread the meringue over the hot filling so it seals to the edge of the crust all round, then bake at 350F for 12 to 15 minutes until set and lightly coloured. Sealing to the crust is what keeps it from shrinking into an island.
- Baked crustThe shell goes into the oven empty and fully baked before filling, since the filling is cooked on the stovetop. Prick and weight it so it does not lift.
- YieldEnough for one 8- or 9-inch pie, six to eight servings. Cool at least two hours before cutting; cornstarch fillings continue to firm as they come down to room temperature.