Revolving Chess Pie Reviews...

[heavy hedonist]

Whether you call it Chess pie, Lemon pie or Buttemilk pie, I've been making it this summer. First I made Lemon Chess Pie with Berry Compote from BA, off Epicurious; a rich recipe, lots of butter & eggs; I added extra lemon juice, 1 tbsp., and it was good warm but better cold. Yesterday I made CL's version from Nov.'99, no butter, less eggs (2 whole, 2 whites) more buttermilk-- I again added an extra tbsp. lemon juice, and I have to say, I loved this version even better, both warm & cold. My man G preferred the rich one warm, but agreed Cl's cold trumped it. Cold, the lemon just sang out, and it wasn't overly sweetened. No one would know it was light, either. I would/will be making CL's LEMON BUTTERMILK PIE again. I think I will try to find one more version that's between the two in richness, for a secondary recipe. There's several I'm planning on testing in the next few weeks. I used to one from The Desperate Gourmet cookbook, which in turn comes from the Mini Mansions Tearoom; like BA's it contains some cornmeal-- CL's doesn't. Some don't have any lemon at all, I believe I'll try at least one of those to see what it is like.
My quest for the ultimate Lemon Chess/Buttermilk Pie will continue next week. Probably with Taste of Home's meringue-topped version. Stay tuned.

[funniegrrl]

Hmmm ... in my mind the names aren't interchangeable -- "regular" chess pie has neither buttermilk nor lemon, although some specific variations may have one or both. The defining characteristic of chess pie ("jus' pie") is that it is simply sweet and gooey, with no specific flavor other than vanilla.

Here's yet another variation that's pretty good, although I WILL say it's quite sweet. I usually reduce the amount of white sugar substantially. This is a family recipe from someone who used to post regularly on the long-defunct Top Secret Recipes bulletin board.

Brown Sugar Chess Pie

1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1 tbsp. flour
2 eggs, unbeaten
1/4 cup milk (probably could use evaporated milk instead if desired)
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup melted butter

Mix together sugars and flour. Mix in eggs, one at a time. Add milk and vanilla. Mix briefly and add 1/2 cup melted butter. Stir in butter until evenly mixed (do not overbeat) and pour mixture into uncooked pie crust. Bake in slow oven at 325 degrees for about 45 min. (I baked mine for about 50 min.) or until pie bubbles in center. After removed from oven, pie will continue to set as it cools.


And, here's a Lemon Chess; don't remember where I got it:

Lemon Chess Pie

9 inch pie crust
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
3 eggs
1 Tbsp. cornmeal
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Mix butter and sugar together. Mix in the eggs, cornmeal, lemon juice and vanilla. Pour mixture into pie shell and bake for 45 minutes in preheated 350 degree oven until pie is nicely browned.

[Kingwell]

I don't suppose chocolate chess pie enters this mix at all?

A few years ago I saw a story on The Inn at Blackberry Farm that had this glorious photo of stacked chess pies--I think it was two or three, maybe regular chess on top and bottom, with chocolate chess in between. Can you imagine?

While I'm blabbing on about stacked pies, I had something called that, stack pie or stacked pie, I think, in Harrodsburg, Ky. Oh. My. It was essentially three mini chess pies--regular sized, but the filling was only about an inch thick in each case--stacked into each other, so it was half crust, half filling, in each bite. Wow. Not so much light.

I admire your dedication to finding the chess pie recipe. I said I was going to do that with biscuits when I moved south, but it got backburnered. I have learned how to make good biscuits, so those have sufficed so far.

[Kingwell]

Dear Hedonist,

Now that I see you live in my hometown, have you discovered sugar cream pie? Not the same, but some similarities. I didn't have sugar cream pie until I visited a restaurant in Glendale, Ky., but I have heard it described since as a "Midwestern" thing.

[heavy hedonist]

Have seen it, but not tasted it. I will look for it in the Marsh again next shopping trip, that's the place I've come across sugar cream pie. Be assured, I won't take store-bought as a reining example! Thanks for the other recipes, too folks, now I have more to test! But As i have said, I can't work right now & have to do something useful while housebound in 90+ degree weather!

[dsignpeach]

REAL Chess Pie has cornmeal in it.

[funniegrrl]

Yup! 'strue!

[heavy hedonist]

REAL Chess Pie has cornmeal in it.

I believe it!! I think Chess Pie in general is really a Southern Treasure kind of thing, and I'm Northern, so my experience with it is from an outsider's perspective-- though I'm getting d--n good at it now!
Funniegrrl, those recipes you gave me/us really have the home-cook touch about them, I love that. Thanks again. They are clearly handed down. I wonder when the lemon detail happened in the Chess pie evolution? My first-ever chess pie recipe was lemony.

One thing I know-- if a recipe is lemony, I want it super-lemony.

The use or non-use of buttermilk is another interesting thing-- somewhere, someone fused two pies, I think, and got a new splinter category. In any case, I'm eating 'em up! :)

[dcollier]

My Mother's from Arkansas and my Dad was from Virginia so I grew up eating chess pies -- "plain" chess, lemon chess, chocolate chess. Plus buttermilk pie, burnt sugar pie, brown sugar pie, etc. It's no wonder I have a sugar addiction!

[Kingwell]

dcollier, do you have a recipe for burnt sugar pie? That sounds interesting...