Pucker up

Well, the vinegar pie was eaten this evening.
I was very curious about how it would go over with bf, and how I'd like it.

As I thought about it, I realized that the pie was probably very similar to a lemon meringue pie (sans meringue), with vinegar in the place of lemon. I can imagine people making this in the dead of winter when there were no lemons in sight, or anytime lemons were too expensive to purchase.

The pie was warmed up near room temperature, and was garnished with a small slice of pecan and pumpkin pies.

It was a sweet and slightly tangy egg custard, with a dusting of cinnamon on top. The cinnamon was barely noticeable, but I do think it added something. I'd like to try a Chess Pie (from the Fanny Farmer cookbook), which is an egg custard pie (similar to pecan) with cornmeal and a little apple cider vinegar. It will be quite tasty, I'm sure.

Bf had two pieces and I sent two home with him, so it was somewhat a hit.

The Recipe I used was from cooks.com, and is the simplest I've found. Many of them were for a cooked custard poured into a baked crust. This one is for a custard mixed and then baked in the crust.

Vinegar Pie

1 c. sugar
2 eggs
1/8 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. butter
1 c. cold water
3 tbsp. flour
4 tbsp. vinegar
Sprinkle of cinnamon
1 unbaked pie shell

Mix sugar and salt with softened butter. Add eggs and blend well. Make a smooth paste of the flour and a little of the water. add to sugar mixture with vinegar and remaining water. Pour filling into the unbaked pie crust and sprinkle lightly with cinnamon. Bake at 425 degrees until edge of crust is golden brown, then reduce heat to 350 degrees. Bake until silver knife blade inserted in filling comes out clean. Makes 6 servings.

You can see it's an incredibly cheap pie to make - if you make your own pie crust, it would be less than a dollar per pie. I bought mine, which would likely put the pie at or just over $1.

I wanted to note, before I forgot, that the pumpkin pie I made was "missing something", and I've finally figured out what it was. I was feeling lazy, so I just used the pie recipe on the back of the pumpkin can. It called for 1 Cup of white sugar, and I'm used to making it with at least some brown sugar. There were no bottom notes to the stuff, it seemed insubstantial. Also, I usually make my pumpkin pie very low in fat, which is nice because, after all, they are made of vegetables and it just makes sense. But I remember the really dense, rich pies my grandmother would make and I want to try one made with cream instead of evaporated milk. Just once, to see how it tastes.

And yes, I'm pretty sick of pie. Bf ordered pizza today, two different pies from Glass Nickel, so all told we ate 5 kinds of pie, including pizza pie.

An embarrassment of riches.