The Pecan Pie Topic

[Swisskaese]

Dean Fearing's pecan pie is amazing:

Dean Fearing's Pecan Pie

[Redsugar]

In my work, I have generally baked these four Pecan Pie recipes.

A simple, straightforward tart: 4 eggs, 1 cup sugar, pinch salt, 4 oz. melted butter, 12 fl. oz. corn syrup, 2 cups pecans, and 2 tsp vanilla extract. Using a 9" sweet-pastry shell.

A Louisiana Sweet Potato-Pecan Pie in which 2 eggs are whisked into a syrup,then poured over the filling before baking. Served w/ a drizzle of caramel sauce and a dollop of whipped cream.

A hedonistic Chocolate-Bourbon Pecan Pie.

And that old faithful – Texas Osgood Pie.

[Timh]

Try these; Sub pecans for walnuts

Swiss Walnut Tart

375 1 hr.

Buiscuit: Butter125g

Sugar75g

yolk1g

egg1

flour250g

salt3+g (more if you like that salt/caramel thing)

Filling: Walnuts200g

sugar100g

honey150g

milk100cc

cream100cc

salt3g

butter25g

Cook to 107-sugsr,honey,dairy,salt

Add-walnuts and butter, remove and cool

Roll dough to 3mm thick, lay bottom in greases 7in. or rectangle

add filling

add top layer of dough, crimp

chill, then bake

Enjoy.

Edited November 13, 2004 by Timh (log)

[Fernwood]

Dean Fearing's pecan pie is amazing:

Dean Fearing's Pecan Pie

←

Swisskaese,

Thanks for the link. I'm wondering if you have that Fearing recipe recorded in/from another source. If so, could you please check the pastry ingredients? The recipe at the link describes an 8" shell, but lists 3 cups of flour, which I find improbable. Of course, I might try his filling in my own crust, anyway, but I'd love to have the correct version of the Fearing one.

Thanks, Fern

[Swisskaese]

Here is ingredients for pie crust for another one of his pies. It is for a 10-in pie crust.

Pie Shell

4 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature

1-1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1-1/2 tablespoons sugar

1 egg yolk

2 tablespoons ice water

[claire797]

Here's the one I've been using. It outstanding -- smooth, rich, and sweet but not overly sweet. It has a deep flavor from the toasted pecans and browned butter.

Pecan Pie

3/4 cup butter

2 cups light brown sugar, packed

3 eggs

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups pecan pieces

9 inch unbaked pie shell

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large skillet, toast pecans. Remove from skillet.

Add butter to skillet and heat over medium until browned. Reduce heat and stir in brown sugar. Let brown sugar melt a bit and turn off heat. Let cool for about 5 minutes.

In a separate bowl, mix eggs, salt and vanilla. Stir in butter/sugar mixture and pecans. Pour into unbaked pie shell Bake in preheated oven at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

[bleudauvergne]

This reminds me of the Search for mama's pie recipe thread.

Question : for these recipes, any thoughts on substituting walnuts for the pecans? I live in a place where walnuts are much less expensive. Thanks.

[Timh]

Check my recipe posted earlier.

[Redsugar]

Question : for these recipes, any thoughts on substituting walnuts for the pecans? I live in a place where walnuts are much less expensive. Thanks. ~ bleudauvergne

Cream together 8 ounces sweet butter & 9 ounces (1½ cups) light-brown sugar. Add 4 eggs, individually, beating between each addition. Add 2 teaspoons vanilla extract and a pinch of salt; then stir in about 3 ounces whole or coarsely chopped walnuts. Pour the filling into a chilled 9-inch pâte sucré shell. Bake in center of 350° oven for about 75 minutes – or until set. Remove and allow to cool to room temperature. Serve warm with lightly whipped cream.

Presumably, you have made the simple French custard tart using walnuts from Perigord Noir and a measure of eau de noix? (I use the Italian liqueur, Nocello.)

Edited November 13, 2004 by Redsugar (log)

[Wendy DeBord]

I have a bourbon pecan pie on right now as one of my monthly specials. We do a tasting every month for the staff and I was running late that day. In my hurry, I accidentally used 2 extra egg yolks per pie and when I served it it was still warm...........everyone thought it was great served warm and the extra eggs seemed to cut the coy sweetness. I'd never had warm pecan pie before but it's now a must. It really made a difference.

[Richard Danzey]

Hello. I'm a newbie, and just missed getting a Question to Harold McGee before the forum closed. I'm repeating the main questions here since the topic is Pecan Pie. I hope this is not out of order.

I have two questions about making a pecan pie come out a little differently.

First: How do I reduce or even eliminate the custardy quality to the filling, leaving just a rich caramelized syrup like product, instead?

Second: What changes should I make, in ingredients or procedure, to allow the filling to almost solidify, leaving a product that is gummy gooey, almost pull your teeth out of their sockets sticky?

I've had pecan pie with these qualities and prefer it to the conventional outcome, but it was long ago, and I never thought to find out how it was accomplished. Now it's not possible.

Since I don't believe Mr. McGee will be answering these questions, I hope someone here or elsewhere on site can and will. Thanks for your cooperation. Regards...

danz

[ruthcooks]

Years ago, I read that European bakers combine pecans and walnuts together in recipes and that the result is tastier than using either nut alone. I'd never liked walnuts because of their bitterness, but I tried this and to my surprise it was true. I'd never use any walnuts, however, in any recipe which featured pecans.

I use brown sugar and white syrup rather than dark syrup and white sugar in my pecan pie. I also prefer chopped pecans to whole (easier to cut and eat) and you may be able to get chopped or pieces of pecans cheaper, Lucy. Perhaps you can get almonds cheaper? I have a good recipe for a Toasted Almond-Maple Syrup Pie.

[Pan]

Since I don't believe Mr. McGee will be answering these questions, I hope someone here or elsewhere on site can and will.

←

He answered your question. Just click on this text to read his reply.

[Abra]

This is a nice one. It has that same toasted nut/browned butter thing going. And Trader Joes has pecans for a song.

* Exported from MasterCook *

Deer Valley Pecan Pie

Recipe By :

Serving Size : 0 Preparation Time :0:00

Categories :

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method

-------- ------------ --------------------------------

Butter Crust:

1 1/3 cup flour

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter

1 large egg yolk

Filling:

1 3/4 cup pecan halves

6 T butter

3 large eggs

2 T flour

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 cup maple syrup

1 tsp vanilla

Combine flour and sugar in food processor (or bowl). Whirl in butter cut in small pieces until fine crumbs form. Add in yolk and whirl until dough holds together. Press dough over bottom and sides of 10" tart pan. Bake crust at 300 until pale gold - 25-30 minutes. Let cool.

Toast pecans in a single layer on cookie sheet at 350 until fragrant - about 7 -10 minutes. Cook butter over medium high heat until it begins to brown and have a nutty aroma - 4-5 minutes. Remove from heat. In blender, finely grind 1/4 cup toasted pecans.

In a bowl, beat eggs to blend. Add ground pecans, pecan halves, browned butter, brown sugar, maple syrup, and vanilla. Mix well and pour into baked crust. Bake tart at 350 until center is set when slightly shaken, about 25 minutes. Let cool at least 30 minutes before serving.

Source:

"Deer Valley Resort in Park City, Utah, via Sunset Magazine."

[ludja]

You might also find some interesting ideas in this thread, What makes a pecan pie Southern? from the Southern Food Culture Forum.

Welcome Bochalla!

[thegreatdane]

I love pecans, pronounced puh-cahns. The very best are the Texas natives, but they're hard to crack and get at all the meat. I did two cups for a pie and it almost killed my thumbs and forefingers.

Herewith is my families secret recipe, passed down from my Great Grandmother:

Go to the store.

Buy a bottle of Dark Karo Syrup.

There's a recipe on the bottle.

Before you leave the store, get the other ingredients.

Bake the pie crust blind for fifteen minutes before adding the filling.

Enjoy.

Go to dentist.

Repeat.

[EliseMF]

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

I did the "what is the best pecan pie in the world" thing last year too... little by little, I have been working to replace my mother's 50's-ish holiday standards with new and improved versions-- first thing to go was the marshmallow sweet potato thing, then the string bean casserole.... you all probably know the drill, and have followed the same path as you have... assumed the cooking responsibilities.

Anyway- the rest of the famaily has been most stubborn about 2 things- her stuffing (lets not even discuss that one) and the back of the karo label pecan pie-

which I always founds cloying, but lacking in texture or taste. Well I won them all over with this: I really do believe it is the PERFECT pecan pie:

We happen to keep kosher, and I substitute Earth Balance margarine (no trans fats) for the butter with no dire loss of flavor

http://www.cooksillustrated.com/article.as...icleid=571#1354

Edited November 18, 2004 by EliseMF (log)

[chefpeon]

Ok. So I kitchen tested the recipe submitted above by claire797.

Wow. Wait, maybe I'm not being clear enough.....

WOW!!!

I am MAD about this recipe!

This pecan pie is so good....how good is it, you ask?

It's so good, that.....

A)Even though I hate pecan pie, I can actually eat this....not only that, but I actually enjoy it.

B) My co-worker, who is a chef from Georgia (who better than a Southerner to judge a pecan pie?), decided to bag making her own pies this Thanksgiving and ordered 12 from me!

I'd say that's pretty good.

Other than that, here's my observations about the recipe.

*Browning the butter....fun and easy. I love burning stuff on purpose.

*When I added the brown sugar, I thought perhaps I had mismeasured, because it was

very stiff. The recipe said to heat it some more til the brown sugar melted a bit....this took a

little while....I didn't want to turn up my flame too high. It helps to stir it, rather than to walk

away from it. Using a whisk is helpful because the butter tends to separate out.

*Even when my brown sugar melted to the point where my mixture was smooth, it was still pretty darn thick, and it was blazingly hot (duh, hot sugar). The recipe said to cool it for about

5 minutes before adding the eggs, but I also feared that if I waited that long it might be TOO cool and thick for me to even incorporate the eggs. At this point I was wondering if:

A) I screwed up somewhere, or

B) this recipe may not work

I feared that adding eggs to something so darn hot might curdle them immediately. I decided

to add the pecans to the mixture first, figuring they would cool down the mixture enough as not

to curdle the eggs.

Well, yeah. That worked....but the thick mixture became even thicker. I truly didn't think the eggs would incorporate at that point, but I figured I should try it anyway....what the heck.

So I added part of the egg mixture to try to thin it down gradually. Then I added the rest, and

stirred furiously......I had some lumps of almost solidified sugar, and tried to work them out the best I could, but I also knew they'd re-melt in the heat of the oven.

I then spooned the mixture into my mini 5 inch pie shells, stuck 'em in the oven and hoped for the best. 35 minutes later I removed from the oven the yummiest pecan pies ever!

Deep dark, caramely, buttery, pecan-y, and sweet, but not overy corn syrup sweet.

My co-workers raved all day, and when I delivered them to the local Co-op where they sell my

little pies, the sales staff tried my samples and three of them bought a pie immediately. Only

9 left for the customers!

I'll find out tomorrow if they sold out......I'm hoping to make a lot more tomorrow!!

[chefpeon]

Pecan Pie

3/4 cup butter

2 cups light brown sugar, packed

3 eggs

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups pecan pieces

9 inch unbaked pie shell

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large skillet, toast pecans. Remove from skillet.

Add butter to skillet and heat over medium until browned. Reduce heat and stir in brown sugar. Let brown sugar melt a bit and turn off heat. Let cool for about 5 minutes.

In a separate bowl, mix eggs, salt and vanilla. Stir in butter/sugar mixture and pecans. Pour into unbaked pie shell Bake in preheated oven at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Help. I love this recipe, but I'm having some problems.

When I first made it, I made the small batch and although I had some difficulties, I stuck it out and it worked wonderfully.

I had to quadruple the batch size yesterday, and the difficulties I had the first time 'round were greatly magnified. The pies came out all right taste wise, but they weren't as perfect as the first time.

Here's the part I'm fuzzy on. After the butter is browned and you add the brown sugar, the mixture is extremely stiff. The recipe says to "let the brown sugar melt a bit". I'm ASSUMING

this means you need to let the sugar melt to the point where the mixture becomes a smooth stirrable consistency? By the time the sugar melts down to that point, the butter separates out, and it's nearly impossible to remix it. Yesterday the batch was so large that I couldn't stir it by hand, and thought I might be able to re-emulsify it by sticking it on the mixer. The mixer didn't re-emulsify it either....rather, I got hard brown sugar lumps in a brown butter sauce. I went ahead and added the egg mixture and pecans anyway, hoping the oven heat would remelt it all into the gooey filling I had the day before.

The pies came out ok, but the tops were dull and cloudy (not gooey-glossy and shiny), and the texture of the pie was stiff and quite grainy.

So, what I want to know is:

A) am I NOT supposed to wait until the sugar melts completely, but just gets a little warm?

B) is the browned butter/brown sugar mixture not supposed to be that stiff in the first place? Is there too much brown sugar? The recipe says "packed" brown sugar....maybe it shouldn't be

packed?

C) Claire797, have you made this before? Am I doin' it wrong?

D) Help me, I gotta work out the bugs before Turkey Day.

[robyn]

In my work, I have generally baked these four Pecan Pie recipes.

A simple, straightforward tart: 4 eggs, 1 cup sugar, pinch salt, 4 oz. melted butter, 12 fl. oz. corn syrup, 2 cups pecans, and 2 tsp vanilla extract.  Using a 9" sweet-pastry shell.

A Louisiana Sweet Potato-Pecan Pie in which 2 eggs are whisked into a syrup,then poured over the filling before baking.  Served w/ a drizzle of caramel sauce and a dollop of whipped cream.

A hedonistic Chocolate-Bourbon Pecan Pie.

And that old faithful – Texas Osgood Pie.

←

I'm fond of the sweet potato pie on top/pecan pie on the bottom since the former is usually kind of bland and the latter is too sweet/sticky. This is the filling recipe I use:

Bake 2 medium sweet potatoes in the oven - cool and peel

Combine sweet potatoes and 2 tbsp of butter in mixer. Beat on medium with paddle attachment until smooth. Add 1/2 cup light brown sugar, 2 tbsp maple syrup, 1 tsp pure vanilla extract, 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon, 1/3 tsp salt and pinch of freshly grated nutmeg. Mix until well combined. Add 1 cup half and half, 1 egg and 1 egg yolk. Mix until smooth.

Sprinkle 3 tbsp light brown sugar and 1/2 cup toasted and roughly chopped pecans evenly over bottom of prepared crust. Pour in filling. Make egg wash of 1 egg and 1 tbsp heavy cream and brush over edge of crust.

Bake pie in oven for 30-40 minutes at 375. Cool on wire rack. Serve with whipped cream.

By the way - Costco sells pecans at a great price. They're also on sale at lots of grocery stores here now. Robyn

[merrybaker]

Instead of brown sugar with light corn syrup, or white sugar with dark corn syrup, I use light brown sugar with dark corn syrup. It has a rich caramel flavor that way.

[Wendy DeBord]

Annie, this is going to sound pretty weird, but I've gotten brown sugar in the past that wouldn't melt in a pan with butter, period. At the time I was making bananas foster and I was so frustrated I couldn't get it to melt, I had everyone in the kitchen attempt to melt that brown sugar and no one could. Changed the brown sugar and everything worked fine as usual. So before you search too much further you might want to experiment with your br. sugar and check it out compared to another brand.

[chefpeon]

Annie, this is going to sound pretty weird, but I've gotten brown sugar in the past that wouldn't melt in a pan with butter, period. At the time I was making bananas foster and I was so frustrated I couldn't get it to melt, I had everyone in the kitchen attempt to melt that brown sugar and no one could. Changed the brown sugar and everything worked fine as usual. So before you search too much further you might want to experiment with your br. sugar and check it out compared to another brand.

←

Wow, Wendy, that's interesting to hear. I was pretty frustrated waiting for that sugar to melt.

It just wouldn't....I thought I was going crazy. I wonder if there's some additive in certain brands?

[JeanneCake]

I've had similar experiences when I tried to substitute dark brown sugar for light; sieving the sugar would take too long. Maybe the browned butter doesn't contain enough moisture to sufficiently melt the sugar...

Iwould alter the sequence a little: try mixing the whole eggs and brown sugar, heat to melt the sugar (Maida Heatter has a recipe for California Fruit Bars in which she does this, it takes about 10 minutes) and add the previously browned butter - still warm - and go from there.

I've been using Rose Levy Beranbaum's recipe for pecan tart - calls for cooking yolks, lt brown sugar, butter, heavy cream, dark corn syrup, salt to 160 degrees -enough to melt the butter and sugar, but not hot enough to scramble the yolks. I usually go to 150 so I don't have to strain the mixture. (RLB prefers and recommends Lyle's golden syrup for better flavor - when I had trouble with this the first time I made it - there was a lot of foam on the top of the nuts and it was because I wasn't letting it bake long enough - she told me the Lyle's was far and away better than the dark corn syrup, but I can't get Lyle's in bulk and the price

point for this tart goes way too high with the retail Lyle's ... but I digress, sorry!)

Let us know what happens....

Jeanne

[Joni]

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

I did the "what is the best pecan pie in the world" thing last year too... little by little, I have been working to replace my mother's 50's-ish holiday standards with new and improved versions-- first thing to go was the marshmallow sweet potato thing, then the string bean casserole.... you all probably know the drill, and have followed the same path as you have... assumed the cooking responsibilities.

Anyway- the rest of the famaily has been most stubborn about 2 things- her stuffing (lets not even discuss that one) and the back of the karo label pecan pie-

which I always founds cloying, but lacking in texture or taste. Well I won them all over with this: I really do believe it is the PERFECT pecan pie:

We happen to keep kosher, and I substitute Earth Balance margarine (no trans fats) for the butter with no dire loss of flavor

http://www.cooksillustrated.com/article.as...icleid=571#1354

←

Elise.,..you don't happen to have the ingredients....this is a payperview site...is it made with corn or lyle syrup?