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Thanksgiving was good. We spent it with Jim's family. I made a lemon meringue pie.
Lemon meringue pie is deceptive. You think it really can't be that hard, especially if you've already mastered crust. What's the difficulty? You make some lemony filling, beat some egg whites, toss them on top, and you're done.
In practice it's not quite that easy. I made crust Wednesday night after work and tossed it in the fridge, but didn't bother to roll it out. Thursday morning I made up a quick batch of bread, not even blinking when I used up the last of the white flour... and then started following my mom's lemon meringue pie recipe. I got the filling going and then realized I needed to roll out and pre-bake the crust. So I pulled out the crust and realized... I had no white flour left. So I made do with wheat flour, but it gave the crust these weird little brown flecks and it made it kind of... resistant to being rolled thin.
While I was rolling, the lemon filling got cool and glopped up. After an hour of warming it back up over low heat and stirring frequently, it did smooth out a bit again, but man. That was annoying.
I zested two lemons. About halfway through I freaked out when I realized there was no way on earth I was getting two tablespoons of zest out of two lemons, and despaired of having done it wrong, or gotten the wrong kind of lemon, or living in Michigan where the lemons have less zest... and then I realized the recipe called for two teaspoons.
The crust went into the oven to pre-bake. Fifteen minutes later it came out of the oven a sticky, soggy, wilted, shrunken, melted mass of gross. I threw it directly into the trash. Frantically I rolled out the other half of the dough and tried again - 3 minutes after I put it in the oven I pulled it out to prevent the same fate. I poured the semi-smooth lemon filling into the crust.
Meanwhile, I desperately beat and beat and beat the egg whites while Jim did google searches to figure out why meringue might not form properly. I tossed out the first batch on grounds of having mixed it in a plastic bowl and added too much sugar too quickly.
The second batch, in a ceramic bowl, didn't fare much better, but as we were out of eggs by that point, I threw up my hands and just poured the damn stuff over the filling.
It looked terrible. The crust looked soggy and undercooked, the meringue was flat, the whole thing jiggled dangerously when moved... We took it to Thanksgiving anyway, mostly so I could show it off and say, "Look how badly this pie failed, isn't this funny?" But Jim's family is extraordinarily nice, and they all said, "It looks fine! We'll eat it!" and they did. I tried some and y'know what? It actually tasted pretty darn good.
Also, I'd like to thank Jim for being very patient with me while I had a Baking Meltdown and went into full panic mode over the lifeless meringue. You get major Boyfriend Points for that.
Lemon meringue pie is deceptive. You think it really can't be that hard, especially if you've already mastered crust. What's the difficulty? You make some lemony filling, beat some egg whites, toss them on top, and you're done.
In practice it's not quite that easy. I made crust Wednesday night after work and tossed it in the fridge, but didn't bother to roll it out. Thursday morning I made up a quick batch of bread, not even blinking when I used up the last of the white flour... and then started following my mom's lemon meringue pie recipe. I got the filling going and then realized I needed to roll out and pre-bake the crust. So I pulled out the crust and realized... I had no white flour left. So I made do with wheat flour, but it gave the crust these weird little brown flecks and it made it kind of... resistant to being rolled thin.
While I was rolling, the lemon filling got cool and glopped up. After an hour of warming it back up over low heat and stirring frequently, it did smooth out a bit again, but man. That was annoying.
I zested two lemons. About halfway through I freaked out when I realized there was no way on earth I was getting two tablespoons of zest out of two lemons, and despaired of having done it wrong, or gotten the wrong kind of lemon, or living in Michigan where the lemons have less zest... and then I realized the recipe called for two teaspoons.
The crust went into the oven to pre-bake. Fifteen minutes later it came out of the oven a sticky, soggy, wilted, shrunken, melted mass of gross. I threw it directly into the trash. Frantically I rolled out the other half of the dough and tried again - 3 minutes after I put it in the oven I pulled it out to prevent the same fate. I poured the semi-smooth lemon filling into the crust.
Meanwhile, I desperately beat and beat and beat the egg whites while Jim did google searches to figure out why meringue might not form properly. I tossed out the first batch on grounds of having mixed it in a plastic bowl and added too much sugar too quickly.
The second batch, in a ceramic bowl, didn't fare much better, but as we were out of eggs by that point, I threw up my hands and just poured the damn stuff over the filling.
It looked terrible. The crust looked soggy and undercooked, the meringue was flat, the whole thing jiggled dangerously when moved... We took it to Thanksgiving anyway, mostly so I could show it off and say, "Look how badly this pie failed, isn't this funny?" But Jim's family is extraordinarily nice, and they all said, "It looks fine! We'll eat it!" and they did. I tried some and y'know what? It actually tasted pretty darn good.
Also, I'd like to thank Jim for being very patient with me while I had a Baking Meltdown and went into full panic mode over the lifeless meringue. You get major Boyfriend Points for that.
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no subject
Date: 2010-11-28 06:53 pm (UTC)From:The cookbook I have says that underbeating may cause shrinkage during baking. It also says that the filling should be hot as you're spreading the meringue because it helps the bottom of the meringue cook at the same rate as the top.
It does look pretty tasty though!!
no subject
Date: 2010-11-29 06:06 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2010-11-29 05:41 pm (UTC)From:Sometimes egg whites are just uncooperative. I've had to start over with fresh egg whites. Sometimes you just need more egg whites than the recipe calls for - you make excess meringue but the beaters need some extent of it. No yolk contaminating whatsoever, whip it as fast as your mixer will go...cream of tartar can also help it get going big and fluffy. That said, the hardest part is the patience. I remember being in middle school and being exasperated at my grandmother telling me to just beat them longer (followed by stories of making meringue by hand...).
As for the gloppy lemon curd...did you use a double boiler? That really helps in keeping it hot when you're doing other bits.
1000 points to the Jim and Jim Family.
no subject
Date: 2010-11-29 06:03 pm (UTC)From:Also, I did not use a double boiler, since I don't have one, and don't really have any method of jerry-rigging one. I did try, but there was just no way to make it happen without endangering myself. I need a bigger kitchen and a larger selection of baking instruments!