A Classic Lemon Meringue Pie from Irma S. Rombauer and The Joy of Cooking

Lemon Meringue Pie

Accordng to their website, "Seventy-five years ago, a St. Louis widow named Irma von Starkloff Rombauer took her life savings and self-published a book called The Joy of Cooking. With very little cooking experience recipes were given to her from her friends and family and she created the very first Joy of Cooking in 1931 with the small insurance payout she received after her husband committed suicide during the Great Depression. Her daughter Marion Rombauer Becker tested recipes and made the illustrations, and they sold their mother-daughter project from Irma's apartment. Suddenly, society wives who used to enjoy a kitchen staff no longer had the money to employ them and began cooking for themselves. The instruction "stand facing the stove" was a bit more pragmatic than we realize. In 1936, the first commercial edition was published."

It is one of the world's most-published cookbooks, having been in print continuously since it's first edition. Today, nine revisions later, the Joy of Cooking has taught tens of millions of people to cook, answered countless kitchen and food questions, and averted many a cooking crisis in my own kitchen as well.

 Gourmet Live brought out a list of the 50 most influential women in food...Fifty women game changers. Some are chefs, some are food writers, and some are women who are passionate about the creative process. You could certainly add or detract women from this list, but no matter what these women have all influenced us in one way or another. Being a woman and passionate about food myself I wanted to explore and join Mary on this journey and not only learn from the masters but recreate some of their dishes to better understand what has shaped and molded them into who they are today. In doing so I have learned more about myself, and have learned more than a few new recipes and techniques. Follow us on this journey while we take an in depth exploration of these women's lives and what has made them who they are.

Number 9 on the list is Irma S. Rombauer.

One of my favourite well-travelled bloggers Mary of One Perfect Bite invited bloggers to travel along on a culinary journey throughout the year. For 50 weeks we will experiment with dishes from each of the 50 influential women on "the list". Whether you agree or disagree with the authors chosen fifty and their order it will be an enjoyable and creative outlet to cook from the masters. My cohorts for this adventure can be found below. If you would like to join in  please contact Mary. This is an informal event and you have the flexibility to follow along when you can. She will be posting every Friday.

I’ve owned several editions of Joy of Cooking over the years. It’s always the bible that I refer back to when I have a question about anything. So when it came down to what I would make from Irma's vast collection it was an easy choice before I headed into the kitchen. I celebrated my birthday a few weeks ago and I knew without a question that the Joy of Cooking would have the perfect, reliable recipe for a Lemon Meringue Pie to celebrate. They have a new Lemon Meringue Tart  on their site that sounds amazing but I wanted a good old-fashioned meringue pie with a  tangy lemon filling and a luscious, hand-spread layer of soft meringue that would remind me of my childhood. The meringue pies of my fragile memories are of of my mom making lemon meringue pie in the kitchen with Tenderflake lard for the crust and Shirriff mix for the filling. Not exactly what I had in mind for todays lesson but I will always be amazed  that clear, viscous egg white can be whipped into weightless piles of fluffy clouds to top my pies.

This celebratory pie had the ultimate flaky pastry and tangy lemon filling that I remember from my childhood all under a dazzling cloud of fluffy meringue that's either swirled into a spiral or puffed into peaks. If anything could be said about this recipe is that it is a bit too sweet for my liking so I am still in search of the perfect filling. If you have it please send a link! What I have alwats loved about this dessert, besides the fact that it comes together easily, is that it is not wasteful. You use 4 egg yolks and 4 egg whites so nothing is left to accumulate in your fridge.  In one word - perfection!

 What did I learn: Use a cornstarch paste to stabilize your meringues and prevent them from weeping and suffering separation anxiety. The pie lasted for several days in the refrigerator. It may have lasted longer...but we will never know since it was devoured almost instantly.

 What have we been up to:

Mary of One Perfect Bite - Shrimp and Grapefruit Cocktail
Valerie of More Than Burnt Toast - Lemon Meringue Pie
Joanne of Eats Well With Others - Whole Grain Popovers and White Gazpacho
Taryn - Have Kitchen Will Feed - Carrot Cake Whoopie Pies
Heather of Girlichef - Oatmeal Molasses Bread
Miranda of Mangoes and Chutney - Homemade Hushpuppies
Jeanette at Jeanette's Healthy Living - Sauteed Chicken Breasts with Tomatoes, Capers and Basil
Katie - Making Michael Pollan Proud - Chocolate Pot de Creme
Sue - TheView from Great Island - Black Plum Blitzkuchen (Lightening Cake)
Kathleen - Bake Away with Me -
Viola - The Life is Good Kitchen -
Susan - The Spice Garden - Swedish Meatballs

Back to The Future

Over four years of blogging I have found many wonderful recipes to share on these pages. Some from my own kitchen, some from your creative blogs and web sites, and some from well known celebrities and chefs. I have been feeling a little nostalgic and was browsing these very pages just the other day, creeping back to the very beginning in 2006 when More Than Burnt Toast was in it's infancy and no more than "knee high to grasshopper". We all have those stellar recipes from when we first started when we were lucky enough to find one comment and have maybe one reader; in my case even before I was taking photos of the dishes I prepared. My other motivation for reconnecting with the past is to create uniform formatting on this blog and this is a fun way for me to revisit past posts.

So here are a couple of flashback recipes from the very first baby steps here at MTBT with...

Spinach Quiche

Half the Fat Carrot Cake

Deer Lake Strawberry Shortcake and Strawberry Lemon Shortcake

My Favourite Falafel with Harissa

**Lemon Meringue Pie**

As with any baking recipe read all of the instructions first. You will notice that after reading the entire procedure below that the first thing you want to do after browning the pastry crust is to make the cornstarch paste for the meringue, then you can move on to the filling and finish with completing the meringue. This ensures that your pie filling is still piping hot in the crust when you top it with the meringue just before the final baking step. This prevents all weeping and separation anxieties of meringue.

The Lemon Filling

Ingredients for the filling

• 1 9-inch pie crust
• 1 ½ cups sugar
• 6 tablespoons cornstarch
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup cold water
• ½ cup fresh squeezed lemon juice (3 large. lemons)
• 4 each large egg yolks, well beaten
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 1 ½ cups boiling water
• 1 teaspoons lemon zest, grated

Procedure steps for filling

1. Using a fork poke holes in the sides and bottom of the crust every few inches or so to allow air to escape while baking, thus preventing the crust from bubbling. Bake the crust in a 425° F oven for 20 minutes or until evenly browned. Remove and cool the crust. Turn oven temperature down to 350° F. (Now go to step 1 in the meringue section below.)

2. Combine the sugar and cornstarch in a 2-3 quart saucepan.

3. Gradually blend in until smooth the cold water and fresh lemon juice.

4. Add the egg yolks and blend thoroughly then add the butter and fold in stirring constantly.

5. While stirring gently slowly add the boiling water. Bring to a boil and allow thickening slightly, reducing the heat to very low and simmering slowly for 1 minute.

6. Fold in the lemon zest then pour into the baked pie shell.

7. Spread the meringue (see recipe below) onto the outside edges and anchoring it to the crust and filling, then working toward the center with the remaining meringue. Use a rubber spatula to create peaks throughout the top of the meringue. Bake for 20 minutes in the 350° F oven or until meringue peaks are golden brown.

8. Cool completely on a rack and then serve or refrigerate for up to 3 days.

The Meringue

Because stabilization is achieved with the cornstarch paste, this meringue topping will not weep, leak, or deflate, even when refrigerated for several days. Since the pie filling should be piping hot when the meringue is added, measure out and prepare the cornstarch paste in step 1 below before embarking on the filling recipe above.

Ingredients for the meringue

• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/3 cup water
• 4 each large egg whites, room temperature
• ½ teaspoon vanilla
• ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
• ½ cup sugar, preferably superfine

Procedure steps for meringue

1. Mix the cornstarch and sugar in a small saucepan, then add the water and bring to a boil over medium heat. Using a wire whisk stir briskly and boil for 15 seconds. Remove the thick paste from the heat and cover. (Now go ahead and start the filling in step 2 from the top section of this recipe.)

2. In a clean and grease-free mixing bowl add the room temperature egg whites and beat until foamy.

3. Add the vanilla and cream of tartar and beat until soft peaks form.

4. Slowly and gradually add the sugar and beat in well on high speed until very stiff and glossy but not dry.

5. Reduce the mixer speed to very slow and add the cornstarch paste 1 tablespoon at a time. When the paste is incorporated increase the mixer speed to medium-high and beat for another 10 to 15 seconds.

6. Spread over hot pie filling as described in step 7 from the section above.

You are reading this post on More Than Burnt Toast at http://morethanburnttoast.blogspot.com. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to the author and or owner of More Than Burnt Toast. All rights reserved by Valerie Harrison.