Continuing on my quest for a non-weepy lemon meringue pie, I turn to a classic recipe from Argo cornstarch’s package.
Recipe Source
A clipping from a box of Argo cornstarch found in my grandmother’s personal effects, but the recipe on their website is pretty much the same: https://www.argostarch.com/Recipe/Traditional_Lemon_Meringue_Pie
Yes, we have been here before. I’ve tried hot filling, cooled filling, chilling before cutting, cutting before it was totally cooled, Italian meringue, adding cornstarch the the meringue, adding cream of tartar to the meringue, broiling the meringue, pre-baking the filling before adding the meringue, tempering eggs into the hot filling, adding eggs to the filling mixture before cooking, covering loosely, covering tightly. In all cases I’ve ended up with soup in the bottom of my pie tin after a day or so and a separating filling, and meringue that beads up with moisture at least a little bit. It’s all been delicious but I wanted to try yet another recipe, one I found in Oma’s recipe box after she passed away. This is straight from the Argo company on a box of their cornstarch.
This recipe has you add the eggs in to the sugar, water, and cornstarch mixture before heating it up, which is how my mom’s recipe says to do it. I sieved it after thickening and before adding the lemon juice, zest, and butter. I’m starting to think that this is making things unstable by breaking up the starch matrix, but I don’t know a better way to strain out the inevitable egg white bits.
The meringue is very simple, just the egg whites and sugar, no cream of tartar for stability. It did suggest a method for topping the pie that helps ensure the meringue really adheres to the outer crust and won’t shrink while baking or storing: add the meringue to the edge first.
Twenty minutes in the oven browned the meringue nicely. Again I kept my swirls pretty low so as not to have a lot of really dark high peaks.
The filling was really soft, again possibly from the sieving. The recipe also said to cool the filling completely before filling the pie, and once it set I had to stir it to loosen it up again. Unlike with previous pies, I let it chill completely, almost 24 hours, before cutting into it. The meringue had a little beading and the filling held its shape but wanted to fall apart. The flavor is good, a little on the sweeter side but with plenty of lemon tang.
The next day?
Still delicious, a bit weepy. The search continues. Alton Brown’s improved recipe will be next, to see if the professionals have cracked the code.
All photos by Amber Sutton. All rights reserved.
Bake on Through to the Other Side 