Pecan pie
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Pecan Pie is also a 2002 short movie starring Jim Carrey and written/directed by Michel Gondry. Carrey's character sings a song about "pecan pie" while driving a bed fitted with a Volkswagen engine and chassis.
Pecan pie is a sweet custard pie made primarily of pecans and corn syrup. It is popularly served at holiday meals and is also considered a specialty of Southern U.S. cuisine. Most pecan pie recipes include salt and vanilla as flavorings. Other ingredients such as chocolate and bourbon whiskey are popular additions to the recipe. Pecan pie is often served with whipped cream.
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[edit] Texas Pecan Pie
In Texas, the second-biggest pecan producing state in the United States (after Georgia), pecan pie is a tradition that began in the 1880s and 1890s.[1] Two historical recipes follow.
From Harper's Bazaar and reprinted in Texas Siftings, both published February 6, 1886:
- PECAN PIE
- Is not only delicious, but is capable of being made “a real state pie,” as an enthusiastic admirer said. The pecans must be very carefully hulled, and the meat thoroughly freed from any bark or husk. When ready, throw the nuts into boiling milk, and let them boil while you are preparing a rich custard. Have your pie plates lined with good pastry and when the custard is ready, strain the milk from the nuts and add them to the custard. A meringue may be added, if liked, but very careful baking is necessary.
From the Dallas Morning News, January 23, 1898:
- Texas Pecan Pie.
- Tiaga, Grayson Co., Tex., Jan. 21.—(To The News.)—Knowing that The News is strictly for Texas and for Texas enterprises, and thinking that it might be of interest to many Texas kitchen queens, I herewith inclose you a copy of the recipe for making what I have decided to call in honor of the great Lone Star state, “The Texas Pecan Pie.”
- Having never seen it in any paper or cook book I have read, and failing to find any one who had ever eaten it, I feel justified in claiming to be its originator and the right to christen it.
- It is a most delicious pie--an instant favorite with all who have eaten it at my table. It is my desire that it may be added to the long list of delicacies Texas cooks are so greatly noted for preparing, and I want every lady to test its merits and I will be glad if they let me know of their success or failure in making it.
- The Texas pecan pie—One cup sugar, one cup sweet milk, one-half cup pecan kernels chopped fine, three eggs, one tablespoonful flour. When cooked spread the well-beaten whites of two eggs on the top, brown and sprinkle a few of the chopped kernels over it. Above is for one pie.
[edit] Overview
One tradition holds that the French created pecan pie soon after settling in New Orleans, after being introduced to the nut by Native Americans. It is sometimes referred to as "New Orleans pecan pie," adding an aura of French cuisine to a home-cooked comfort food. Attempts to trace the origin have, however, not found any recipes earlier than 1925, and well-known cookbooks such as Fannie Farmer and The Joy of Cooking did not include it before 1940. (In any case, the process for refining corn sugar was not developed until the 1880s. Thus, the corn syrup which is considered an essential part of the modern recipe was not available to the settlers of New Orleans).
There is no doubt that the makers of Karo syrup popularized the dish, and many recipes—even one ascribed to a well-known New Orleans restaurant—specify Karo syrup by name as an ingredient. This suggests a prosaic 20th-century origin in Karo promotion, and in fact the maker's website currently credits the dish as a 1930s "discovery" of a "new use for corn syrup" by a corporate sales executive's wife. The company asserts that "Down South, today, that same recipe continues to be called Karo Pie" but in fact this name for the dish seems to be rare.
Although the standard recipes call for corn syrup, cookbook author Mark Bittman comments "There are two kinds of pecan pie, one of which contains not only sugar but corn syrup. I don't like this version—not only is it too sweet, if you taste corn syrup by itself you'll never cook with it again." The version he favors uses white and brown sugar, no corn syrup, and "thickens the sugar with eggs—in other words, it's a custard pie, loaded with pecans."
Jim Turner of Glencoe, Alabama developed the recipe for making pecan pies with sorghum syrup. These pies are considered by some individuals to be of a higher quality than the ones made with corn syrup.
[edit] Quotations
Pecan pie is often mentioned in American literature (and television) as associated with Thanksgiving, Christmas and other special occasions; for example:
- Tonight was the monthly meeting and potluck dinner of the Lost River Community Association... Frances had brought two covered dishes, one a green-bean casserole, the other a macaroni and cheese, and several desserts. Mildred, who had prepared fried chicken and a pork roast, heard the phone ringing, but ignored it... After another trip to the car for two cakes and three pecan pies, the phone was still ringing.
- —Fannie Flagg, 2004
- The only kitchen item I usually bring to Italy is plastic wrap... This time, however, I have brought one bag of Georgia pecans and a can of cane syrup, pecan pie being a necessary ingredient of Christmas.
- —Frances Mayes, 1997
- Dooley handed them a basket stuffed with fruit, nuts, candy, a tinned ham, and a pecan pie. "Merry Christmas!" he said.
- —Jan Karon, 1996
- Harry Burns: Repeat after me. Pepper.
- Sally Albright: Pepper.
- Harry Burns: Pepper.
- Sally Albright: Pepper.
- Harry Burns: Waiter, there is too much pepper on my paprikash.
- Sally Albright: Waiter, there is too much pepper on my paprikash.
- Harry Burns: But I would be proud to partake of your pecan pie.
- —Billy Crystal & Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally
- Trip Tucker: It may not be good for the body... But it sure is good for the soul.. Star Trek: Enterprise
[edit] References
- Pecans Claim of origination by French in early New Orleans
- Food timeline: Pie and pastry No recipes earlier than 1925, not in Fannie Farmer or Joy before 1940, Karo origin suggested
- Karo syrup—Life's sweetest little secret Company website acknowledging/claiming 1930s origination of the recipe
- Pecan Pie Recipe from well-known New Orleans restaurant both asserts the French settler tradition and calls for Karo syrup by name
- Pecans—the true blue-blooded Americans "some suggest the wife of a Karo Corn Syrup executive may have developed the pie..."
- teenhollywood.com interview with Jim Carrey Describes the "pecan pie" song in the "pecan pie" movie
- Mark Bittman, How to Cook Everything 1998, Macmillan; ISBN 0-02-861010-5: Recipe without corn syrup
- Fannie Flagg, A Redbird Christmas: A Novel. 2004; Random House; ISBN 1-4000-6304-3
- Jan Karon, A Light in the Window (The Mitford Years). 1996; Penguin; ISBN 0-14-025454-4
- Frances Mayes, Under the Tuscan Sun. 1997; Broadway; ISBN 0-7679-0038-3
