The Great American Pie Tour

As Easy as Eating Pie

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As presented in Grafton's Valley Messenger. Read Latest Edition

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Chess Pie

The humble pie we’ve tried to avoid eating.

One thing we’ve discovered on this Great American Pie Tour: pie is inextricably entangled with American life. So much so, when eating a piece of pie you may be eating the very essence of her making. You may be eating the spirit of the Declaration of Independence, the soul of the Bill of Rights, the obligation of the Emancipation Proclamation. No other pie we’ve served you exemplifies American culture, all of it— good and bad, like Chess Pie.

No other pie we’ve brought you thus far has the fundamental popularity of chess pie. As one of the simplest pies we’ve made, chess pie is a delicacy of the American South. A distant kin to the English lemon curd pie, the first recipe for chess pie appears in an American published cookbook by Estelle Woods Wilcock, Buckeye Cookery and Practical Housekeeping, from 1877. Yet, chess pie is much older than that, and there is so much more to this pie’s history, myths and stories. Even how it got its name is compelling.

Many years before the American Civil War (mid 1860s) a freed slave working in an Inn was asked by a satiated traveler having just enjoyed her quickly made concoction, “What kind of pie is this?” “Oh,” she said, “it’s ‘jes pie.” It’s also said that this pie kept well in the chest. There is conjecture that the original recipe was made with chestnuts from a variety of tree that was wiped out by the chestnut blight of 1904.

Chess pie is often thought of as “poor folk food”, and “dump” pie. It was once called vinegar pie. And you’re starting to think, “Why would I come to the Cold Brew Café to have that pie?”

We would say, because most of us, being poor, know how cleaver we can be when we don’t have a lot in the pantry. This pie, though very humble, is just delicious! We hope you’ll join us at Cold Brew Café for this pie and other savouries and sweets.

Find us on Facebook @coldbrewcafeaustralia for our progress, "tips and secrets” and other updates in making chess pie. Search #greatamericanpietour to find our past posts and pies on the Great American Pie Tour and look for the final Chess Pie recipe in the next week’s printing of the Valley Messenger.

Buttermilk Chess Pie Recipe

Ease is the Name of the Game

One thing we have discovered on this Great American Pie Tour; pie is inextricably entangled with American life. So much so, when eating a piece of pie, you may be ingesting the very essence of Her making. You may be eating the Spirit of the Declaration of Independence in a piece of pumpkin pie, the Soul of the Bill of Rights in a piece of apple pie, the Obligation of the Emancipation Proclamation in a piece of lemon meringue.

No other pie we have served you exemplifies American culture, all of it— good and bad, like Chess Pie. Hundreds of years of slavery is a part of this pie which was also called poor folk pie, vinegar pie and dump pie. But don’t let those names deter you. This pie is beautiful, creamy, sweet, comforting, and the quintessential taste of the American South.

If you’re concerned about the ingredient of buttermilk, we have a great way to make it. No need to make a special trip to the store. Making your own buttermilk is also the reason why chess pie is called vinegar pie.

How to make buttermilk:

For every 1 cup of milk stir in 1 tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice.
Let set for 10 minutes or longer.
Scale this recipe up or down depending on need. You’ll need one cup for this recipe.

The first recipes we found for chess pie said, “dump everything in the bowl, stir ’til creamy, pour into crust and bake.” Hence the name, Dump Pie. But we found if we take a bit more time to combine sugar and butter, then add the cornmeal, combine, add the eggs, combine etc. we get an amazing custard texture. We have tried both par-baking the crust and baking the crust with the pie, and we like both; but, if we’re being honest, we like easy. We’ve put the instructions for par-baking crust, but you may omit.

We leave it to you for store bought short crust pie dough or using your favourite recipe for this one. We are very happy with store-bought. But don’t omit the docking instruction to keep the dough from puffing up under your pie and creating big gaps. We should know; our first pie had a great, big hollow tip.

But if you can’t be bothered making this beautiful pie, we will have it at Cold Brew Café for another week! Come in for a piece of pie and a cuppa or try any other of our delightful sweets and savouries.

Ingredients:

1 prepared single crust pie dough.

Filling:

½ cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1 ½ cup white sugar
3 tablespoons polenta or corn meal
¼ teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
⅛ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 cup buttermilk

Method:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Roll out chilled pie crust to a size that fits the pie dish with just a little overhang. Place dough in pie pan, fitting it snugly. Trim any extra dough that is hanging over the edge. To strengthen the pie crust's edge, fold the dough's outer border inward by about 1/2 inch. Crimp the edge. With a fork, poke or dock the crust's bottom and sides about ten times, to prevent pie crust from bubbling up while baking. Gently press a layer of parchment paper into the crust and fill with pie weights or dry beans.

Filling:

Bake crust in the preheated oven for 15 minutes. Remove the dish from the oven, lift weights from pan with edges of parchment paper. Allow crust to cool completely. If not par-baking place the dough in the refrigerator until very chilled. Place butter in mixing bowl; add sugar. Stir together until completely combined using a spatula, 4 or 5 minutes. Add polenta and salt. Mix until combined. Stir in 3 eggs; mix until slightly blended.

Then using a whisk, whisk together until mixture is smooth and creamy.
Add nutmeg, lemon juice, and buttermilk. Whisk until thoroughly mixed, 2 or 3 minutes. Pour into the pie shell.
Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown and just set, 45 to 55 minutes. Pie should have a slight wiggle, but not a soupy jiggle. Cool to room temperature. Refrigerate until chilled, 1 to 2 hours.

Enjoy!

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