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Chocolate Meringue Pie
1 1/2 cups milk 3/4 cup sugar 4 egg yolks, well beaten 1/4 cup shortening 2 squares chocolate, melted 4 egg whites, beaten stiff 1/2 cup powdered sugar 1/2 teaspoon vanilla Make custard of milk, sugar and egg yolks, well beaten. Add shortening and melted chocolate. Pour mixture into pan, lined with pastry, and bake until filling is firm. Make meringue of egg whites, beaten very stiff, the powdered sugar and vanilla. Cover pie with meringue and bake 15 minutes in very slow oven. Serves 6 people.
A baked custard pie of the plainest kind: no flour or cornstarch, so the eggs alone set the filling. That makes oven control the whole game.
- The hinge: bake the filling gentlyWith no starch, the custard curdles if pushed. Bake at 325-350F until the centre still wobbles slightly when the pan is nudged; carryover heat finishes it. A filling baked until firm all the way to the middle will weep and go grainy as it cools.
- Very slow ovenAround 250-275F for the meringue. Fifteen minutes at that heat dries the top without shrinking it or boiling moisture out of the filling beneath; expect very little colour.
- Squares of chocolateA square is 1 ounce of unsweetened baking chocolate, so 2 ounces total. Modern bars are not always scored into 1-ounce pieces, so weigh it. Do not substitute semisweet without cutting the 3/4 cup sugar.
- ShorteningIn a book of this vintage this means vegetable shortening or lard. Butter gives better flavour in a chocolate custard and can be used at the same 1/4 cup, though its water content means it is not an exact substitution.
- The pastry shellThe recipe fills raw pastry with liquid custard. Partially blind-bake the shell at 425F for about 12 minutes, then lower the oven for the filling, or the bottom will not crisp.
- Meringue on a warm fillingSpread the meringue over the filling while it is still hot from the oven and seal it right to the crust edge. Meringue laid on cold custard slides and leaves a layer of syrup underneath.
- Salt and yieldNo salt is listed; a pinch in both the custard and the whites is worth adding. The quantity suits a single 8- or 9-inch shell, and the recipe's own yield is 6.
- Powdered sugar in the meringueModern confectioners' sugar contains cornstarch, which actually helps stabilise the foam. Sift it and add it gradually once the whites hold soft peaks.