Lemon Meringue Pie
When I made this pie, everybody in my family loved it, they kept on asking me to make it again!
When I made this pie, everybody in my family loved it, they kept on asking me to make it again!
- 1 egg
- 3 egg yolks
- filling:
- crust:
- 1 teaspoon vinegar
- 4 cups flour
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 3 egg whites
- meringue:
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1/2 cup cold water
- 1 3/4 cups shortening or butter
- 2 lemons (grated zest and juice)
- 2 tablespoons corn flour
- 2 oz caster sugar (50g)
- 1 1/2 oz butter (40g)
- 275 ml cold water
- 6 oz caster sugar (175g)
- Carbohydrate 4537.312489 g
- Cholesterol 4935.97880317066 mg
- Fat 412.177273804746 g
- Fiber 30.1708802026749 g
- Protein 189.704658 g
- Saturated Fat 173.108125410313 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (7215g)
- Sodium 11076.3046 mg
- Sugar 4507.14160879732 g
- Trans Fat 24.5473601634089 g
- Calories 22076 calories
Step-by-step
- Mix together, flour, sugar and salt. Cut in the shortening. In a small bowl add vinegar, cold water and egg, stir with fork till well blended. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well with large spoon or by hand. Divide into 4 balls, refrigerate for 15 minuets (up to a week) Remove one ball at a time and roll into flat circle to fit pie pan. Bake at 400F(200C) till golden brown.
- Measure 10 fl oz (275 ml) cold water into a jug, and spoon the cornflour and sugar into a bowl. Add enough of the water to mix the cornflour to a smooth paste, then pour the rest of the water, along with the grated lemon zest, into a small saucepan. Bring this up to the boil, then pour it gradually on to the cornflour, mixing all the time until it is smooth.Now return the mixture to the saucepan and bring back to the boil, still mixing. Next, simmer very gently for about 1 minute, stirring all the time to prevent it from catching. Then remove the pan from the heat and beat in the egg yolks, lemon juice and, finally, the butter. Pour the lemon mixture into the pastry shell and spread it out evenly.
- Finally, for the meringue, use a large, roomy bowl and in it whisk the egg whites until they form stiff peaks. Now whisk in a quarter of the sugar at a time until it is all incorporated, then spread the meringue to the very edge of the pastry rim with a palette knife, so that it seals the edge completely. (With your knife you can also make a few decorative swirls.) Cook in the oven on the center shelf for 45 minutes, by which time the meringue will have turned pale beige, and be crisp on the outside and squashy within. Serve warm or cold, but if warm, leave it to settle for about 20 minutes.
Scaling the Pastry and Filling
How many pies do you actually need, and do the proportions hold when you multiply or divide? Pastry dough scales linearly by weight, meaning doubling the four cups of flour requires doubling the shortening, salt, and sugar while keeping the liquid ratios precise to avoid a tough crust. When scaling the starch-thickened lemon filling up for multiple pans, remember that thickening capacity scales directly with volume, but heat transfer slows down in larger batches. A double batch of filling requires vigilant stirring at the simmer stage to prevent scorching on the bottom of the saucepan. Weighing ingredients in grams rather than relying on volume measurements ensures consistent results across any scale.
The Science of Structural Integrity
Texture relies entirely on temperature management and mechanical action, where starch gelatinization gives the lemon curd its body and whipped egg whites create the airy topping. Undercooking the cornflour paste leaves a cloudy appearance and a chalky mouthfeel because starches require boiling temperatures to fully swell and trap liquid. Conversely, over-whipping egg whites before adding the caster sugar breaks the protein bonds prematurely, causing the meringue to weep liquid onto the curd during baking. Incorporating the sugar gradually in quarter-increments stabilizes the foam by dissolving into the moisture and coating the protein strands.
Baking and Resting Parameters
Baking the crust at 400 degrees Fahrenheit ensures rapid steam production in the fat layers, which separates the flour and creates flaky pockets before the butter melts away entirely. Once filled and topped, the pie requires baking on the center oven shelf at a moderate heat for forty-five minutes until the meringue turns pale beige and achieves crispness on the exterior while remaining soft inside. Allowing the warm pie to rest undisturbed for twenty minutes permits the starches in the filling to set fully, yielding clean slices rather than a runny spill across the plate.
