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Soda Cracker Pie
Pour water on two large or four round soda crackers and let them remain till thoroughly wet. Then press out the water and crush them up together. Stir in the juice and grated peel of a lemon, with a cupful or more of powdered sugar. Put in pastry and bake.--Miss H. L.
A frugal lemon pie built on soaked crackers instead of eggs or cornstarch. The scale and the crust are both left to the cook, so read the notes before you start.
- How much crackerThe recipe's "two large or four round" gives no fixed modern measure, and soda crackers of the period varied in size. Figure on about 3/4 cup of crushed unsalted soda crackers, and expect a very thin filling for a 9-inch shell. Doubling everything is more realistic for a modern pie plate.
- Powdered sugarIn nineteenth-century usage this generally meant granulated sugar ground fine, not the boxed confectioners' sugar that contains cornstarch. Ordinary granulated sugar is the closer match; the cornstarch in modern powdered sugar will thicken the filling more than intended, which is not necessarily unwelcome here.
- Do not squeeze the crackers dry"Press out the water" means press out the surplus, not wring them into paste. The retained water is the only liquid in the filling apart from the lemon juice, and crackers pressed too hard give a dry, crumbly slice.
- The lemon peelGrate only the yellow zest of one lemon; the white pith will make the filling bitter, and modern waxed fruit should be scrubbed in hot water first.
- OvenThe recipe gives no oven guidance beyond "bake"; a moderate oven, around 375F, for roughly 35 to 40 minutes, until the pastry is browned and the filling is set at the center, suits it. There is no egg to curdle, so the pie is forgiving, but the crust dictates the timing.
- Crust"Put in pastry" does not say whether the pie is covered. A lid or lattice will keep the surface from drying, since the filling has so little liquid; if you leave it open, dot the surface with a tablespoon of butter before it goes in.
- Yield and servingOne shallow pie, six small slices. It is quite sweet and quite sharp; it wants no accompaniment beyond unsweetened cream.
Cracker pies belong to the large family of American "mock" pies, in which a cheap, shelf-stable pantry item stands in for fruit that is out of season or out of reach: crackers for apples, vinegar for lemon, crushed biscuit for mincemeat. Housekeeping in Old Virginia, compiled by Marion Cabell Tyree and published in 1878, gathers hundreds of such contributions from Virginia housewives, and it was assembled in a decade when Southern kitchens were working with far less than they had before the war. A pie like this one needed no eggs, no butter, no milk and no fruit but a single lemon. The soda cracker itself was a commercial product by then, leavened with saleratus and sold from the barrel, and its ability to soak up water and hold a shape is what makes the filling work at all.