Custard pie

“ When the filling of the pie does not require so much baking as the crust, it is well to bake the crust partly before putting the filling in. This is particularly advisable in the case of custard pie, for the custard is put in as an uncooked mixture and requires the low temperature necessary for solidifying eggs without causing them to curd. On the other hand, pies containing certain kinds of filling must be baked slowly. When this condition exists, it is advisable to start the baking in a very hot oven, so that the crusts will have the benefit of the high temperature. ”

“ Peach Custard Pie.—Cover a pie plate with an under crust. Take fresh peaches, pare, halve, and stone them, and place a layer, hollow side up, in the pie. Prepare a custard with one egg, one cup of milk, and three tablespoonfuls of sugar. Pour the custard over the peaches, and bake. If the quantity given will not entirely cover the peaches, a little more must be prepared. Canned peaches which are not broken can be used instead of fresh ones. The pieces should be drained free from juice, and less sugar used. ”

“ Always prick the lower crust of a pie carefully with a fork to allow the air to escape; this will prevent blisters forming in the crusts baked before filling crusts with custards.
APPLE CUSTARD PIE
To 1 cup of hot apple sauce (unsweetened) add a tiny pinch of baking soda, 1 tablespoonful of butter, 1 cup of sugar, grated rind and juice of half a lemon or orange, 2 egg yolks, 1⁄2 cup of sweet cream and 1 large teaspoonful of corn starch. Line a pie-tin with pastry, pour in this mixture and bake. ”

“ Stir to dissolve the sugar and mix in the egg. Then wash the pie. This will keep a week in a cool place.
The correct temperature to bake a pie is 300 to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. This means a moderate oven. Too much heat [pg 89] will brown the crust before the filling inside has had the time to cook. Custard pies—this includes those made of eggs, milk, lemon meringes, sweet potato and pumpkin—require a slow oven—250 degrees Fahrenheit.
PASTRY FOR CUSTARD PIE
The most important point in the custard pie is the crust, which will either make or mar the pie. ”

“ Put in sugar to your taste; it is impossible to make a precise rule, because apples vary so much in acidity. A very little salt, and a small piece of butter in each pie, makes them richer. Cloves and cinnamon are both suitable spice. Lemon-brandy and rose-water are both excellent. A wine-glass full of each is sufficient for three or four pies. If your apples lack spirit, grate in a whole lemon.
CUSTARD PIE.
It is a general rule to put eight eggs to a quart of milk, in making custard pies; but six eggs are a plenty for any common use. The milk should be boiled and cooled before it is used ”

“ When juicy fruit is used for filling pies, some of the juices are apt to escape during baking. As a precaution, bind with a strip of cotton cloth wrung out of cold water and cut one inch wide and long enough to encircle the plate. Squash, pumpkin, and custard pies are much less care during baking when bound. Where cooked fruits are used for filling, it is desirable to bake crusts separately. This is best accomplished by covering an inverted deep pie plate with paste and baking for under crust. ”

“ Use 1 more egg, mix ingredients with 2 whole eggs and 2 yolks more, then add the 2 whites stiffly-beaten, at the last. This makes a more attractive pie.
Custard Pie Without Milk—4 eggs, 3 or 4 tablespns. sugar, salt, 1 pt. boiling water, flavoring. Beat 2 whole eggs and 2 more yolks with sugar and salt, pour boiling water over gradually, stirring, pour into crust, dust with coriander, bake; meringue with whites of 2 eggs. Vanilla, lemon or orange flavoring may be used in the pie. The whites may be beaten stiff and stirred into the filling before baking instead of adding the meringue. ”

“ If it comes out clean the pie is finished baking.
LEMON CUSTARD PIE 2 tablespoons flour 1⁄2 cup sugar 2 eggs, separated pinch of salt 1 lemon 11⁄2 cups milk 1 pie shell
Mix 2 tablespoons of flour with 1⁄2 cup sugar and a pinch of salt. Beat 2 egg yolks. Add the juice and grated rind of 1 lemon. Then add flour and sugar continuing to beat. Stir in 11⁄2 cups milk and lastly fold in 2 egg whites beaten stiff, but not dry. Pour into unbaked pie shell. Bake in hot oven, 425 degrees for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to moderate 350 degrees and bake 15 minutes more. ”

“ Place in a double boiler and cook for 10 or 15 minutes longer. Beat the yolks of the eggs and add them to the mixture. Remove from the heat, add the flavoring, and pour into the baked crust of a pie. Make meringue of the whites of the eggs, cover the mixture, place in a moderate oven, and bake for 10 to 15 minutes.
59. CUSTARD PIE.--Custard pie is made with the usual proportion of milk and eggs necessary for thickening. A dash of nutmeg is considered to improve the flavor and it also makes the surface of the pie a little more attractive.
CUSTARD PIE
3 eggs 3 c. ”

“ Line a pie-dish with puff paste, prick well with a fork and bake carefully, then fill the case with a custard made as follows. Mix 1 dessertspoonful of flour with the contents of a packet of Allinson custard powder, out of a pint of milk take 8 tablespoonfuls and mix well with the flour, custard powder, &c., boil the remainder of milk with sugar to taste and 1 oz. of butter and when quite boiling pour on to the custard powder, stir quickly for a minute, then pour into the pastry case, grate a little nutmeg on the top and bake till of a golden brown; serve either hot or cold. ”

“ One lemon; one-half orange; one cup sugar; yolks three eggs; one cup water; one tablespoonful (heaping) flour; one lump butter; beat all together and cook until thick custard. Put into crust; with whites beat stiff one spoonful sugar.
FLAT CUSTARD PIE Mrs. Earl Combs
Four eggs beaten; one quart of milk; two tablespoonfuls flour; one pinch salt; one tablespoonful butter; put in hot pan. Then pour custard and bake about twenty minutes. When done put creamed sugar on top while hot. Creamed sugar. One cup powdered sugar; two tablespoonfuls butter; one teaspoonful vanilla; cream all together. ”

“ Many varieties of pies are made with only one crust, and these usually prove more attractive than those having two crusts. As a rule, the filling is a custard or a corn-starch mixture, but often fruits of various kinds, as well as pumpkin and squash, are used in the making of pies of this kind. Frequently, meringue is used as a covering for one-crust pies; or, if an especially delicious dessert is desired, a thick layer of stiffly beaten and sweetened whipped cream is often added to the pie just before serving. ”

“ Custard Fritters.—Take half a pint of cream in which some cinnamon and lemon have been boiled, add to this five yolks of eggs, a little flour, and about three ounces of sugar. Put this into a pie-dish, well buttered, and steam it till the custard becomes quite set; then let it get cold, and cut it into slices about half an inch thick and an inch and a half long, sprinkle each piece with a little powdered cinnamon, and make it quite dry with some powdered sugar. Then dip each piece into batter, throw them one by one into boiling oil, and finish as directed for apple fritters. ”

“ Put a strip of paste around the edge of a shallow pudding dish or deep pie pan, fill dish with prepared fruit, sugar and flour, cover with a lid of paste, press on to the strip and bake.
Fillings of squash, pumpkin or sweet potato pies may be baked on pie pans, in custard cups or in pudding dishes, without a crust, and with or without a meringue.
Serve fruit pies the day they are baked. Those that are unavoidably left over, put into the oven and just heat through before serving, to make like fresh pies. ”

“ If the meat is not fat, put in a little suet, or melted butter. Moisten the whole with cider—sweeten it to the taste with sugar, and very little molasses—add mace, cinnamon, cloves, and salt, to the taste. If you wish to make your pies rich, put in wine or brandy to the taste, and raisins, citron, and Zante currants. The grated rind and juice of lemons improve the pie. Make the pies on shallow plates, with apertures in the upper crust, and bake them from half to three-quarters of an hour, according to the heat of the oven. ”

“ Boil the milk, stir in the corn-starch wet in a little cold milk, and boil one minute. When nearly cold, stir in the sugar, the yolks of all the eggs, and the whites of two; flavor, and pour into your paste-shells. Whip the remaining whites to a méringue, with two tablespoonfuls white sugar and a teaspoonful of vanilla, and when the custard is just “set,” draw your pies to the edge of the oven to spread this over them. Do it quickly, lest the custard fall by exposure to the air. ”

“ Do not try every one unless the cups are of different sizes, and make a small, narrow slit, so that their appearance will not be too much injured. This mixture may also be baked in a pudding-dish. Baked custards may be flavored with a variety of substances, among the best of which are grated nutmeg, almond extract, vanilla, and caramel.
To Make Caramel. Boil together one cup of sugar and one third of a cup of water until the color is a rich reddish brown, then add one cup of water, and bottle for use. Two tablespoons of this syrup will be required to flavor a pint of custard. ”

“ They may be cooked by steaming, dry steaming, or baking.
19. In true custards there must be a sufficient number of eggs to thicken the desired amount of milk, for nothing else produces thickening. To these two ingredients may be added sweetening in the form of sugar, sirup, honey, etc. and flavoring of any desirable kind. The plain custard thus produced makes an excellent dessert and one that is easily digested. In fact, it can be digested with such ease that it is used perhaps more frequently in the diets of children and invalids than any other single dessert. ”

“ English people usually make their fruit pies with a top-crust only, putting a turned down tea-cup under the centre of the lid to collect the juice, (of course removing the cup when the pie is cut.) It is a good method in a country where the cost of flour is high.
Too much economy in the shortening will infallibly make the crust very poor, hard, heavy, and unwholesome. If you cannot afford dessert paste, do not attempt pies at all; but substitute a plain charlotte, or slices of bread and butter, covered with stewed fruit, sweetened, and laid in a deep dish. ”

“ Citron custard is good summer or winter, served hot or cold. The child should first beat up very light two eggs, then add a pinch of salt, one-third cupful of sugar, two cupfuls of milk, and a sprinkle of nutmeg. Next she must line a baking-dish or individual cups with thin slices of citron, then pour in the custard and bake, after setting her dish or cups in a pan of boiling water. If a few small nails are scattered over the bottom of the water-pan, so the pudding cups do not touch, but are surrounded by water, the custard will cook more evenly. ”

“ The usual rule for custards is, eight eggs to a quart of milk; but a very good custard can be made of six, or even less, especially with the addition of a level tablespoonful of sifted flour, thoroughly blended in the sugar first, before adding the other ingredients. They may be baked, boiled or steamed, either in cups or one large dish. It improves custard to first boil the milk and then cool it before being used; also a little salt adds to the flavor. A very small lump of butter may also be added, if one wants something especially rich. ”

“ It is very easy to garnish a dish or decorate a mold, and the habit once formed will lead to more ambitious attempts.
CUSTARDS BOILED CUSTARD NO. 1 2 cupfuls, or one pint, of milk. Yolks of 3 eggs. 1⁄2 saltspoonful of salt. 1⁄2 teaspoonful of vanilla. 3 tablespoonfuls of sugar.
Boiled custard is the basis of many puddings, ice-creams and sauces. It requires care to get it just right, for the cooking must be arrested at the right point; a moment too soon leaves it too thin, a moment too long curdles and spoils it. It should have the consistency of thick cream, and be perfectly smooth. ”

“ Put this custard mixture into a tin pan, set it in a Dutch oven or something similar, pour round the pan some boiling water, enough to reach half-way up its sides, and bake the custard ten minutes. Instead of vanilla, you may flavour the custard by boiling, in the half pint of milk, a handful of bitter almonds or peach kernels, blanched and broken in half, and stirring into the custard when it has done baking, but is still hot, a wine glass of rose water. [459] As rose water loses most of its taste by cooking, it is best, when practicable, to add it after the article is taken from the fire. ”

“ When making boiled custard, set the dish containing the custard into another and larger dish, partly filled with boiling water, placed over the fire. Let the cream or milk come almost to a boil before adding the eggs or thickening, then stir it briskly one way every moment until smooth and well cooked; it must not boil or it will curdle.
To bake a custard, the fire should be moderate and the dish well buttered.
Everything in baked custard depends upon the regularly heated slow oven. If made with nicety it is the most delicate of all sweets; if cooked till it wheys it is hardly eatable. ”