American Pie

NOTE:  Per Blogspot, I wrote this blog entry in June 2019.  Not sure why I never finished it, but I feel that it deserves being posted, so, here goes....

In our last episode, Rosemary was able to procure some beautiful fresh rhubarb.

Now, when I was growing up, my mother made a Rhubarb Cake which I loved and a Rhubarb Custard Pie which took some getting past the fact that it was generally green inside (put a pin there for a funny anecdote later), but is fabulous!

I decided that I would make her pie.  This plan hinged, potentially, on two things: 1) my ability to make pie crust; and b) my ability to make meringue.  

My previous history with making pie crust was in the 8th grade, in Home Ec class.  The assignment was to make a pie.  I chose to make a Coconut Cream Pie - don't ask me why, I don't even particularly like coconut.  The pie crust had a rubbery texture to it... making it almost inedible, and the meringue... well, let's just say I think I made a C on that assignment.

Since then, my motto has been "God made store-bought pie crusts for a reason!" so, pie crust - Check!

I dug out mom's old Betty Crocker cookbook (seriously old, like, from the mid-1950's) for the recipe and started to prepare the pie ingredients.  Winifred watched over me to make sure I followed the recipe.

Ok, the custard was successful - it thickened up marvelously and tasted good.  On to the meringue.

The recipe just said to cover with meringue - so I said to my mother, "so, how exactly do I make meringue?"  She told me basically, and I said that somewhere in the back of my mind I was thinking it needed something like Cream of Tartar.  She said she didn't think so.  

So I made the meringue, and it browned up perfectly, as you can see, and my guinea pigs (below) were ready to eat the pie... and they were not disappointed - it was delish!

You will note two things in the picture. 

A) the meringue is not very high.  I later discovered, after talking with my Aunt that yes, meringue requires Cream of Tartar AND it expires quickly so if you pay $5 for a tiny can of it, make as much meringue as you can stomach because otherwise, the next time you go to use it, it'll have expired and the meringue won't be high.

2) the filling in this pie is not green.  Turns out rhubarb comes in red and green.  Obviously my Amish rhubarb was red.  

And now for the anecdote about the green pie. 

Several years ago, my mother made her rhubarb pie and took it to the Barger family reunion in July at my Aunt Mary's.  It was a very hot weekend and our reunions were always outside - they had a wonderful backyard.  

Anyway, at some point, my mother went to the dessert table and as she was getting herself a piece of pie, my cousin was standing there and leaned over and said that she might want to skip that pie because he thinks it's been out of the fridge too long and gone bad, it'd even turned green.  

I asked her if she thought he was joking (after all, this was my Dad's side of the family, so that was a real possibility), she said she didn't think so.  Mom said she told him it was supposed to be green!  I asked her why she didn't tell him that it was rhubarb pie and she said "well this way, we'll take home leftovers!"  I love my mom!  

Ok, so by now, I know you are ALL aching for some Rhubarb Pie, here's the recipe.  And don't forget the Cream of Tartar for the meringue (notice it is not mentioned in the recipe)!

Rhubarb Custard Pie
1 T butter
2 cups rhubarb, cut up
1 T water
2 T cornstarch
1/4 cup condensed milk
salt
2 eggs, separated
1 pie shell - pre-baked

• Bake pie shell.  Set aside to cool.
• Bring butter, rhubarb, and water to boil.  Add cornstarch, sugar, salt, egg yolks and condensed milk.  Cook until thickened.  Set aside to cool.  The pour into pie shell.
• Use egg whites to make meringue.  Spread meringue over custard in pie shell.  Bake in over until meringue is brown.

Finally, I don't know if anyone pays attention to this, but maybe long time readers notice that the titles of a LOT of my blog posts are either song titles or lyrics.  So obviously, for this post, being pie-related, the obvious one was "American Pie" by Don McLean.  But I just want to say that when I Googled "songs involving pie," I discovered an embarrassment of riches when it comes to pie songs!

NOTE 3/8/2023:  Winifred passed away in the summer of 2019.  That may be why this blog entry was never finished.  She is missed but we figure she's up in heaven playing fetch with Dad.