Lemon Pie III
1 lemon 1¼ cups milk Whites 4 eggs ⅞ cup powdered sugar Beat yolks of eggs slightly, add sugar, salt, grated rind of lemon, and milk. Line plate with paste as for Custard Pie. Pour in mixture. Bake in moderate oven until set. Remove from oven, cool slightly, and cover with Meringue III (see p. 480) made of whites of eggs, powdered sugar, and lemon juice. 3 eggs 2/3 cup sugar
The ingredient list has been mangled by the original two-column typesetting, so read it as: 3 eggs, 2/3 cup sugar, 1 lemon, 1¼ cups milk and a few grains of salt for the filling; 4 egg whites and ½ cup powdered sugar for the meringue. This is a lemon custard pie, not the cornstarch-thickened lemon meringue most people expect.
- The hinge: it is a custardNothing but egg thickens this filling, so it sets at about 170-175F and curdles above about 185F. Pull it when the edges are firm and the centre still wobbles as a single mass; carryover heat finishes it.
- Moderate oven350F. If the crust browns faster than the custard sets, drop to 325F and give it longer rather than pushing the heat.
- Egg arithmeticThe filling uses 3 whole eggs' worth of yolk, but the meringue as written calls for 4 whites. Buy 4 eggs, use all 4 yolks in the custard (it will be slightly richer), or reserve one white for another use and make the meringue with 3.
- "Powdered sugar"In 1896 this meant finely granulated or milled sugar, not the cornstarch-cut confectioners' sugar sold today. Ordinary granulated or caster sugar is the right substitute in both filling and meringue.
- Lemon juice in the meringueThe juice goes into the whites, not the custard — that is why the filling tastes only of zest. Add it after the whites hold soft peaks, or the acid slows the foam.
- Line plate with pasteAn unbaked shell filled with liquid custard. Blind-bake to light colour first, then pour the filling into the still-warm crust; the 19th-century method often gives a soggy base.
- Finishing the meringueSpread it so it seals to the crust rim all round, then bake at 350F for 12-15 minutes until set and lightly coloured. Weeping is usually blamed on underbaked meringue over a cold filling.
- YieldThe recipe gives no plate size; the quantities suit a single 8- or 9-inch pie, six to eight servings. Cool completely before cutting or the custard will slump.
Fannie Merritt Farmer's Boston Cooking-School Cook Book (1896) gives several numbered lemon pies of different types. Some lean on eggs and milk, essentially a flavoured custard baked in a shell, a descendant of the English lemon cheesecakes and lemon puddings of the 18th century. Others use cornstarch and water, giving the bright, sliceable, translucent filling now taken as standard — a shift generally credited to the wider availability of cheap corn starch after the mid-19th century. Meringue toppings were an economical way to use the whites left over when yolks went into a custard, which is exactly the logic of this page: the whites do not go to waste, they go on top.