Chess Pies
Chess pie (also known as chess cake, chess tart, & sugar pie) belongs to a long Southern American tradition of sweet egg-rich custard pies. This Southern specialty calls for the preparation of a single crust and has a simple filling of four basic ingredients: eggs, sugar, butter, and a small amount of flour. Some recipes include cornmeal as a stabilizing agent in the filling and others are made with vinegar. In addition to standard chess pie, other flavor variations include lemon, coconut, buttermilk, and chocolate chess pie. Nut pies, including pecan, fall under the category of chess pies. An ideal chess pie is sweet — but not cloying — and dense.
In Classic Home Desserts (pub. 2010) by Richard Sax, he confirms the chess pie's Southern roots. He calls it a "pantry pie" because it's made of everyday ingredients. Leafing through his pie recipes there are lots of chess's cousins — pecan pie; the maple sugar pies of New England; as well as vinegar pie, buttermilk pie and others.
The major difference in a chess pie from other custard pies is most chess pie recipes call for a small amount of cornmeal (or sometimes flour) to be added to the batter. This step not only helps the pie set, but adds texture as well. Also, chess pie recipes usually include some type of acidity in the form of vinegar, buttermilk, or lemon juice to help balance its sweetness. The successful chess pie is baked low and slow. Rushing a chess or custard pie by increasing the oven temperature will curdle the eggs, causing the pie to be watery.
Also see Black Walnut Chess Pies
Chess Pie
Recipe comes from an old Southern cookbook (original publication
1928)
1 cup sugar
1 cup butter
3 egg yolks and 1 white
3 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon vanilla
damson preserves and meringue
Cream butter and sugar as if for cake. Add egg yolks and 1 white and beat until foamy; add water and flavoring, again beating until well mixed. Pour this into pan lined with raw pastry and cook. This is delicious. When done the top is covered with damson preserves and meringue and slipped back in the stove to cook meringue. Or it may be served just as it is at first. It makes lovely tarts.
Note: Since no time or temperature is included with this recipe, look the others over. Generally, chess pie is baked at 350° for anywhere from 35 minutes to 1 hour. Test with a clean knife. When it comes out clean (no custard clinging to it), the pie is done.
Lemon Chess Pie
Grated rind of 1/2 lemon
juice of 1 1/2 lemons
1/4 pound butter (1/2 cup), at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs, at room temperature
1 unbaked 9-inch pie shells
Chess pies have a plain look to them. When surrounded by other, fancier pies, filled with fruit and nuts, the chess pie is likely to be passed over. But give this rich, tart pie a taste, and you'll never think of it as plain again.
Preheat oven to 350° F.
Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add one egg at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add lemon juice and rind; mix until blended. Pour into pie shell and bake 45 minutes.
