Make Toni Tipton-Martin's zingy lemon meringue pie

Sweet yet zingy, this lemon meringue pie recipe from Jubilee: Recipes from Two Centuries of African American Cooking, is the perfect way to put a spring in your step at the end of a heavy meal.

Toni Tipton-Martin's recipe for lemon meringue pie

Jerrelle Guy

Published: Wednesday 5th August 2020

Makes 1

Preparation time 45 minutes

Cooking time 50 minutes

Each bite of this delectable lemon meringue pie recipe combines the perfect balance of sweet and tangy. We share the recipe from Toni Tipton-Martin's new cookbook, Jubilee: Recipes from Two Centuries of African American Cooking.

Dive into the pages of any cookbook and you're bound to learn a thing or two about the culture to which it owes its recipes. But in this fascinating cookbook from Toni Tipton-Martin – a scholar of African-American culinary history and a James Beard Award winner – you can expect to fill up as much on the rich history of Black cooks as you will on delicious and memorable dishes.

Bringing together 30 years of collecting rare African-American texts (resulting in a library of almost 400 Black-written cookbooks), the historian showcases more than 100 recipes, ranging from classics like biscuits, seafood gumbo and buttermilk fried chicken to lesser-known (but no less delicious) plates like West African groundnut stew and okra salad.

Jubilee, which acts as a sequel to The Jemima Code, Tipton-Martin's 2015 cookbook, continues on its quest to give Black cooks the recognition they were stripped of for centuries. A recipe for crawfish bisque not only instructs us how to make the creamy French soup, it also provides the history of the Creole staple and its publication in New Orleans Recipes in 1932.

Beyond the chapter introductions and in-depth African-American culinary history that comes with every plate, Jubilee is a stunningly photographed cookbook with inspiration for meals big and small. Perhaps even tougher than picking your first recipe will be choosing whether to display this delicious work in your kitchen or on your coffee table.

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Ingredients

BEST-EVER PIE CRUST

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 stick (4 oz) butter, cut into ½ -inch pieces and chilled
  • ¼ cup lard or shortening, cut into ½ -inch pieces and chilled
  • 8 to 10 tablespoons ice-cold water

This recipe makes two crusts, for either two single-crust pies or one double-crust pie.

LEMON MERINGUE PIE

  • ⅓ cup cornstarch
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • 3 large eggs, separated
  • 1 ¾ cups sugar
  • 2 Tbsp butter
  • 1 Tbsp freshly grated lemon zest
  • ½ cup fresh lemon juice
  • ¼ tsp cream of tartar

Method

BEST-EVER PIE CRUST

  1. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour and salt. Sprinkle half of the butter and lard over the flour and use your fingertips, a pastry blender or two knives to cut and mix until the mixture resembles large peas.
  2. Sprinkle in the remaining butter and lard and cut and mix to coarse crumbs. Sprinkle the dough with ice water, 1 tablespoon at
    a time, and use a fork to lightly mix until the dough just comes together and pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
  3. Gather the dough into a ball. Divide the ball in half. Press into two 1-inch-thick discs and wrap in plastic.
  4. Refrigerate for 30 minutes before rolling, or freeze for later use.
  5. To blind-bake (prebake) the crust: Preheat the oven to 375°F.
  6. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to about 12 inches in diameter.
  7. Drape the dough over the rolling pin or fold it into quarters and transfer to a 9-inch pie plate. Press the pastry evenly into the pan, without stretching to fit. Trim the edges and crimp decoratively, as desired. Prick the crust all over with the tines of a fork.
  8. Cut parchment paper to fit the bottom and halfway up the sides of the pan. Line the pie shell with the paper. Pour in pie weights, uncooked rice, or dried beans to cover the bottom and sides of the crust. Bake for 12 minutes.
  9. Remove the paper and weights and bake the crust 5 minutes longer for a partially baked crust, or 10 minutes longer for a fully baked crust, until it looks dry and crisp.

LEMON MERINGUE PIE

  1. In a heavy saucepan, bring 1½ cups water to a boil. In a small bowl, dissolve the cornstarch and salt in ½ cup coldwater. In a separate bowl, beat the egg yolks until thickened; set aside.
  2. Whisk the cornstarch mixture into the boiling water. The mixture will thicken. Cook and stir over medium heat until it is almost translucent.
  3. Whisk in 1¼ cups of the sugar and bring back to a boil. Immediately remove from the heat. Beat 2 tablespoons of the hot mixture into the egg yolks, 1 tablespoon at a time, to temper them. Whisk the warmed yolks back into the hot mixture until combined.
  4. Whisk in the butter. Bring to a boil over low heat, stirring constantly, until the filling is thick, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the lemon zest and lemon juice. Let cool.
  5. In the very clean bowl of a stand mixer, beat the egg whites and cream of tartar until frothy, then beat on high speed until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in the last ½ cup sugar and continue to beat until stiff peaks form.
  6. Pour the filling into the pre-baked pie crust. Spread the meringue over the top, spreading to the edges of the crust to seal. Bake until firm, 6 to 8 minutes. Allow the pie to cool on a wire rack, then refrigerate 3 to 4 hours.
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