Buttermilk pie: Good Southern home-cooking

For pie lovers, this is one smooth Southern treat

11:25 AM CDT on Monday, October 15, 2007

By LAURA H. EHRET / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News Utter the words buttermilk pie, and the reaction is likely one of two extremes: wild appreciation of its silky sweetness or complete disgust.

I don't blame those in the latter camp; they can't help their palates. Besides, as my family is fond of saying, more pie for me.
 
EVANS CAGLAGE / DMN
Buttermilk pie is believed to have originated in England and spread to the South and New England along with New World settlers.

I understand how anyone who has never eaten a slice would find it unappetizing. It's difficult to get past the image of sour milk poured into a pie shell.

Imagine if you had never had excellent deep-fried chicken -- crispy crust and tender meat -- and someone showed you a chicken scratching in the dirt, claiming you were looking at the best meat you would ever eat. It's hard to make the leap.

Buttermilk pie is good Southern home-cooking, a smooth, sweet golden custard pie, tempered with a bit of tang. Some people also call it chess pie -- the origins of that name are up for debate -- but technically a chess pie doesn't have any buttermilk, according to The New Food Lover's Companion.

And though buttermilk pie is often associated with the South, the late American food authority James Beard said that chess pie has its origins in England. It became popular in the South and New England as the country was settled.

While it bakes, the buttermilk pie here (my family's recipe) forms a lacy brown topping that some people find unattractive. But I find it appealing. I couldn't imagine buttermilk pie without it, any more than I could picture Cindy Crawford without her mole.

So the next time you find yourself with a spare splash of buttermilk after a batch of corn bread or maybe even some buttermilk biscuits, you've got the makings for an easy pie, if you start with a purchased pie crust.

And, just for grins, offer it to someone who doesn't know what he is eating. You might just make a convert. Or maybe just more pie for you.

Laura H. Ehret is a Lewisville freelance writer.
BUTTERMILK PIE
3 eggs, beaten well
1 2/3 cups sugar
1 ½ sticks melted butter
4 tablespoons flour
½ cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon extract
1 unbaked pie shell

Preheat oven to 350 F. Mix eggs, sugar, butter, flour, buttermilk and vanilla and lemon extracts well. Pour into unbaked pie shell. Bake for 55 minutes. Let cool before cutting. Makes 6 to 8 servings! .

PER SERVING: Calories 443 (49% fat) Fat 24 g (13 g sat) Chol 116 mg Sodium 266 mg Carb 53 g Protein 4 g
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