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Cocoanut Custard Pie
Take two eggs; one pint of milk; one-fourth teaspoon of nutmeg; one-half cup of sugar; one cup of prepared cocoanut; one-fourth teaspoon of salt. Beat the eggs and sugar together until light; then add the milk, nutmeg, cocoanut and salt. Line a deep dish with crust, pour the mixture in, stirring well, and bake thirty minutes. The above quantities will make one thick pie or two rather thin ones.
A plain custard pie carrying coconut, from a period when "prepared cocoanut" was a familiar grocery item and oven temperatures were left to the cook's judgment. Two points decide whether it works: the temperature, which the original never gives, and the fact that a wet custard poured into raw pastry will soak it.
- The oven, which is not statedA hot start to set the crust followed by a moderate finish is one common approach: start at 425F for 15 minutes, drop to 325-350F for the rest. A steady 350F throughout also works but gives a softer base.
- Blind-bake the shellThirty minutes is not long enough to cook raw pastry under a pint of liquid custard. Line the shell, weight it, and bake at 400F for about 15 minutes before filling, or accept a pale, damp bottom.
- "Prepared cocoanut"This meant the packaged desiccated or moist shredded coconut sold in tins and boxes from the later nineteenth century, often sweetened. Modern sweetened flaked coconut is the closest match; if you use unsweetened, expect the pie to read noticeably less sweet than intended.
- The custard ratioTwo eggs to a pint of milk is on the loose side by current standards, and the coconut absorbs some liquid. A third egg, or one extra yolk, gives a firmer slice that cuts cleanly.
- Judging donenessThirty minutes is optimistic for a full pint of custard in a deep dish; expect 35-45 minutes at 350F. Pull the pie when the outer inch is set and the center still wobbles as one piece — around 175F at the middle. It firms as it cools.
- Don't stir it in the shell"Pour the mixture in, stirring well" most likely refers to keeping the coconut suspended in the bowl as you pour, since it settles fast. Stirring inside a lined pastry case will tear the crust.
- NutmegA quarter teaspoon of pre-ground nutmeg reads faint today. Grate it fresh, and dust a little over the surface before baking, as many period custard recipes direct.
- YieldOne deep pie, six to eight servings, or two shallower ones, as the recipe says. Cool completely before cutting, and refrigerate leftovers — this is an egg-and-milk custard.
Custard pie is one of the oldest survivals in American baking, descended from the English medieval "custarde" baked in a pastry coffin, and by the nineteenth century it had settled into the plainest possible form: eggs, milk, sugar, nutmeg. What makes this version late rather than colonial is the coconut. Shredded coconut became an everyday pantry item in the United States over the later nineteenth century, as shipping improved and commercial desiccating and packing operations put it in tins and cartons within reach of ordinary households — the recipe's phrase "prepared cocoanut" assumes the reader will simply buy it, not crack and grate a nut. The Butterick Publishing Company, better known for dress patterns and The Delineator, issued cookbooks aimed squarely at that same middle-class housekeeper, and the recipe's brevity is characteristic: it tells an experienced cook what goes in and trusts her to know what her own range calls a moderate oven.