Thanks for watching Everyone! As always the recipes are in the description box. *So... Key Lime Pie. Going way out on a limb until people bring dated proof, but the 1935 Mack’s Place Key Lime Pie, is probably as close to original as we're going to get.*
Excellent video Glen. For the "third pie" you mentioned using only half the sugar. Did you use the remaining half in the meringue or not use it at all?
My family (Ohio & California) & I have always said 'sweetened condensed milk', BUT you're right. All condensed milk is sweetened and it's not necessary to say that it's sweetened. It's only recently that I've noticed people in Canada, like you, & the UK say 'condensed milk' & wondered why my family says it the other way. Odd. :)
I thought I might have an answer on my bookshelf. My mother was always fascinated by the origins of recipes, and I have her copy of "The United States Regional Cookbook," edited by Ruth Berolzheimer and published in 1937. The book is very much an historical look at food. Its lime pie is called "Florida Persian Lime Pie" and it seems to be the one without condensed milk that you preferred. It contains: 4 eggs, 1 large Persian lime or 11/2 small ones, grated rind of 1 lime, 1 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon flour and 1/4 teaspoon salt. It was to be baked in a pastry shell. The recipe also says that "The first settlers of the Florida Keys found the small key limes growing in the rocky coral soil and used them. The present Persian lime grown now in Florida is comparatively new. The first Persian lime grove to be planted for commercial purposes was started in 1927 just south of Miami. I so enjoy your videos. Frederica Scobey, Minneapolis
My great grandma passed down a key lime pie recipe, just called lime pie that uses the same double boiler method you used. You’re the only channel ive seen that use that method. She has wrriten down to double boil for 20 minutes . Awesome stuff !
Chris I’ve never had a Keylime pie with meringue. My mother’s favorite pie was Keylime pie double boiler method. I have to agree I really love it too , however I have no idea what the other recipes taste like.....so I guess I’m kind of biased, LOL!
As a chef I've never put much stock it romanticized origins of recipes. 18 years ago I married my wife who's from Costa Rica and we moved there from the states and opened a restaurant. My mother-in-law made a lime pie exactly like the Mack's lime pie however she baked her pie in a water bath...it was the best lime pie I had ever eaten and I've eaten alot of lime pies as it my personal favorite. When asked about the recipe she said it was handed down from her mother (needless to say we put it on the menu). According to her story her mother had read in the paper another pie recipe where the meringue was incorporated into the base and baked, but she didn't like way the pie looked and baked it in a water bath which she like better. She was not sure what the original pie recipe was but her mother had baked the pie that way and that's the way she made it. I don't know the year and neither did my mother-in-law, but I know it may favorite and that it was the number one selling dessert at out restaurant. Thanks so much for doing a deep dive into the recipe and history its one hell of a pie!
Hailing from nowhere near Florida so take this with a grain of salt, I heard the key lime pie recipe was developed during the depression because they had a very difficult time getting fresh dairy on the island, which is also why true key lime pie never has whipped cream topping, only merengue. As an aside from a house nerd, I looked up 313 William Street in Key West on Zillow, and OMG, Mrs. McClanahan must have been well-to-do! It’s a huge Queen Anne style house with a double decker wraparound porch and guest cottage, surrounded by lush palm tree landscaping. Anyone interested in moving to Key West, it’s for sale for a mere $3,850,000!
Dear Glen and friends cooking, My parents vacationed in the Florida keys, for 3 months every year from around 1975 to the late 1980's. They swear up and down to me that the best Key Lime Pies were green color. Even stating that there was a old warehouse/bakery, that they would go to (possibly on Key West itself) and get the pies where they were made on the actual islands. We took them down for a vacation down there in 2019 and finding someone making a green key lime pie from Islamorado on down to Key west that they wanted was like pulling hens teeth. We tested out many a key lime pie across the islands (all were delicious of course) but my parents were legitimately blown away that they had not gotten their beloved green pies sadly. I guess it became common place back in the day to food dye the pies back then because I started researching it just as you have with the original key lime pie recipe. Apparently in the 1940's greening a lemon or lime pie in florida became fairly popular and by the late 1950's early 1960's became common place at restaurants on the Keys. Matches up with my parents story pretty much made me far less aggravated since they insisted the pies were ALWAYS green! Figured id just mention this for posterity for someone else searching down the history of key lime pie's and such.
I had a similar experience on my honeymoon in 1973 in Florida. The Key Lime pie was a lovely shade of green with meringue on top. I even found a jello mix for Key Lime pie at the grocery store that you cooked on the stove. It also made a beautiful green pie with meringue.
People have their preference of green or yellow key lime pies, but the green ones are just lemon meringue with lime and green food coloring served by highway diners to tourists because they were cheap to make. That doesn't make it not a tasty pie, but it's not to be confused with what Glen is doing here.
Key limes don't make green juice. Any time you see a green pie it's probably made with Persian limes and not key limes. So it's considered a bad sign/inauthentic.
Both Persian and Key Limes produce a yellow-ish juice. Neither mixed with condensed milk creates a green key lime pie. I don't think the color should matter, so long as you think it tastes good and it is reasonably priced.
Three is the magic number! Two to eat and one to give away, would quickly turn into 3 to eat and I'll make one to give away later... which I'll probably eat too.
American's Test kitchen did a blind taste test that found “... that tasters could not tell the difference between pies made with regular supermarket limes (called Persian limes) and true “key” limes.”" Would be interesting to see you and Jules do a blind taste test and see if waiting for the key limes actually makes a difference! EDIT: Just saw the ending! Great minds think alike! Looking forward to the results.
I'll admit it wasnt a blind taste test but i did try making key lime pies by following the old recipe (which called for bottled lime juice), I tried it with regular supermarket limes, and with key limes and everyone preferred the key lime even though they were otherwise identical.
If you grew up in Florida (like I did) you can tell the difference between key lime and lemon pie with food colouring. I’ve sent many pies back that were simply lemon pie in disguise. If only the Green Turtle Inn restaurant in the Keys was still around …best pie ever.
I was wondering what a KEFFIR LIME pie would taste like, since it's got such a distinct flavor; unfortunately, those limes are more known for their leaves, as their pulp is very dry & seedy.
Was re-watching this video when something occurred to me; being a fairly traditional southern cook for about 52 years now, and knowing how we work when we don't have a particular item on hand when in the midst of making a certain dish, I think I have an idea how the whole 'lime pie' thing came about. Most likely, a cook, (southern or not doesn't really matter), in the midst of making a usual lemon pie, realizing all she had were limes available to her, simply substituted the limes for the lemons. Probably a good thing it wasn't grapefruits! 😏
StirlingVideoLounge Inquisitor never mentioned being white was a bad thing. Inquisitor literally just mentioned that the southerners were white and you immediately thought “that must be racist”
I had an avocado and chocolate tart. The slices of avocado and squares of dark chocolate were alternately layered in a pre-baked pie crust, and then it was put back in the oven just until they started to melt into each other. It was delicious!
I made mack's place key lime pie this weekend and it was wonderful, I will make it again. My granddaughter was here and I showed her how to make a double boiler with a pan, and bowl. I also let her make the meringue, how to fold it into the egg yolk mixture, and how to fill the pie crust without making to big of a mess. U hope she remembers things like this when she grows up. Thank you for the recipe Glen.
I always say sweetened condensed milk. I've been on food websites for many years, and if you say condensed milk, you'll get a ton of questions about whether it's sweetened condensed or evaporated. I just think it's more concise to include the sweetened. Now I can't wait to make the one with the meringue folded in!
I love how glen always does his research & informs us of the origins & the history behind the recipes. Cracking channel mate, really enjoy your content. Keep it up 👍🏽
I just made the mack's place pie. Sooo fricken delish......winnerwinner chicken dinner. Omg. So delish. Thank you. For the recipe. My egg whites did not peak. So decided to still go for it. And it turned out still. Next time I'm take it slow when making this. Thank you again. Love your vids. Be safe from Vancouver.
Just made it as well... twice. First time I made the meringue too stiff. Turned out like lime mousse. Still tasted incredible. Working on second batch now with much softer meringue. Hope it comes out a little more dense.
Loved this segment! Thanks for the history lesson! Key Lime pie is my all-time favorite pie! As a Floridian, we do love this pie, it's served in almost every restaurant. Fun fact: On July 1, 2006, the Florida House of Representatives and the Florida Senate both passed legislation {HB 453} and {SB 676} selecting "Key lime pie" as the official pie of the state of Florida.
I can't find the history of it online anywhere, but is it possible that the sour orange pie came about prior to any of these, and that is what turned into key lime pie? I'm asking because that seems to be a strictly Florida recipe that people don't talk about much.
Andrew Kasper it’s either condensed or evaporated. You don’t need to say sweetened because it’s implied. My husband once picked up condensed milk when I need evaporated milk for biscuits and gravy so he might say it matters, though! 😂
I'm not sure it goes as far as a legal definition, but since there's a few brands that dominate the global market its the standard virtually everywhere. If something is sold as "condensed milk" it's always sweetened, but if it's "evaporated milk" it's not. Condensed milk was developed more as a topping or food ingreident whereas evaporated milk was developed as a way to make canned shelf stable milk that could either be drunk directly as a "fortified food", used in foods where you;d use milk, or watered down and consumed like regular milk.
Excellent segment, as always. Thank you! The popularity of these types of pies in the period between the world wars has to do with another exciting "new" change in culinary tools of the time; the availability of relatively inexpensive electric (or other mechanical) refrigeration. Look through the plethora of refrigerator manufactures' cookbooks from the same period. None is complete without a citrus juice pie recipes very similar to two of your lime pies. A substantial offering of these period recipes relied on condensed milk to make them simple and fool proof using the lower temps available with an electric refrigerator, even in warmer climates. Translucent starch and water (and sometimes egg yolk) pies can be touchy for the inexperienced cook. Also remember, there was very little air conditioning at that time so indoor temps were well above what we would endure today. Your favorite pie would not rely the lower cold of the electric refrigerator to keep set and thus it would have been fine even with lesser refrigeration using solely ice.
When I was growing up in the 50’s, the pie without meringue was one of my mom’s specialities that she brought to church suppers and so forth. Sometimes she made it with lemon, which was also wonderful. I’m pretty sure she submitted it to at least one church cookbook, but my daughter now has my cookbook collection, so I can’t check. This was in rural Iowa.
His recipe calls for a "pastry shell," but it looks as if he's using a graham cracker crust in the video. Which did your Mom use? If a pastry shell, was it pre-baked?
My Key Lime story, since we helped create Florida and were some of the first self-made millionaires in Florida: History of Key Lime Pie: As to who made the first key lime pie, no one really knows for sure as it has never been documented. 1800s - William Curry (1821-1896), a ship salvager and Florida’s first self-made millionaire (commonly referred to as rich Bill), had a cook that was simply know as Aunt Sally. It was Aunt Sally who created the pie in the late 1800s. Some historians think that Aunt Sally didn’t create the Key Lime Pie, but probably perfected a delicacy that was the creation of area fishermen. William Curry built a lavish mansion for his family in 1855 that still is being used today as the Curry Mansion Inn. I do not know if this story is true, but it is widely repeated. One theory is that Aunt Sally already knew how to make a lemon ice box pie which also uses sweetened, condensed milk and egg yolks. But instead of lemons, she used the readily available local key limes. Sponge Fishermen: Another theory on who first made Key Lime Pie is that sponge fishermen around Key West used to stay at sea for quite a while. Sponge fishing was a booming new business in South Florida but the margins were slim so the rations were meager on his boat - some sugar, eggs, canned milk, soda crackers, some nuts, and citrus fruit. Word spread quickly among the fisherman and the cool tart pie became a staple on those fishing trips. One of these men, maybe even the one who made that inaugural pie, shared the recipe with some woman folk. Perhaps he shared it with Aunt Sally! 1930s - It was not until the 1930s that the first recipes were written down. Until then everyone just knew how to make the pie. No fresh milk, no refrigeration, and no ice was available in the Keys until the arrival of tank trucks with the opening of the Overseas Highway in 1930. Because of this lack of milk, local cooks had to rely on canned sweetened condensed milk, which was invented in 1856 by Gail Borden. Key lime may be the star ingredient of the key lime pie, but it is the sweetened condensed milk that makes it so smooth and delicious. Key limes are the pink flamingos of Florida food, and they are a celebrated part of local color. The key lime tree, which is native to Malaysia, probably first arrived in the Florida Keys in the 1500s with the Spanish. Key limes look like confused lemons, as they are smaller than a golf ball with yellow-green skin that is sometimes splotched with brown. They are also know as Mexican or West Indian limes. When a hurricane in 1926 wiped out the key lime plantations in South Florida, growers replanted with Persian limes, which are easier to pick and to transport. Today the key lime is almost a phantom and any remaining trees are only found in back yards and their fruit never leave the Florida Keys. Key limes are also grown for commercial use in the Miami area. 1965 - Florida State Representative Bernie Papy, Jr. introduced legislation calling for a $100 fine to be levied against anyone advertising key lime pie that is not made with key limes. This bill did not pass. In 1994 - The Florida State Legislature officially recognized Key Lime Pie as an important symbol of Florida. The road to becoming the official state pie, was not an easy one. Since the 1980s, North Florida lawmakers have debated that a pie made of pecans, grown in Florida, would better reflect the state’s history. House Bill 453 and Senate Bill 676 of the Florida Legislature’s Regular 2006 Session made the Key Lime Pie the official Florida state pie as of July 1, 2006. Sources: Bahama Currys. The Curry Family of Monroe County, Florida. The Remarkable History of the Key Lime Pie, by Scott Hutcheson SB 676 - Official State Pie/Key Lime.
Mrs Beetons (English cooking book, published in 1861) talks about a lemon meringue flan using the cornflour/lemon mixture. We started using the condensed milk method in the 1950's as it was easier to make. Condensed milk here automatically means sweetened. Evaporated milk is a different product, produced by a different method and is not sweetened. Lemon meringue tart/flan is by no means an American invention. Key lime pie is just a version of this using a different citrus. Thank you for your programme. It was interesting to see the 3 different ways you made them.
This is correct. A corn starch or gelatin mixture with no eggs or meringue mixed in. And the pie was usually chilled and not baked. Best way to experience the key lime flavor.
Here in New Zealand, condensed milk always has 'sweetened' in the name, but we just refer to it as condensed milk, since the 'sweetened' is assumed. Nestlé's 'Highlander' brand is probably our most popular. Interestingly, the cans used to be 400 grams, but somewhere while I was growing up it went down to 397 grams.
Same here in the Mid-Atlantic USA. It says sweetened on the label, but we just call it condensed milk. Either Borden (Eagle) or Carnation are the major brands. I've known a few people who told me their parents or grandparents from Caribbean islands (Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic) always used sweetened condensed milk in their coffee.
Wow Glenn, you can read my mind. Just yesterday I bought all the stuff to make a key lime pie for the very first time! Never made it before , you are right on time!
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS! Lime pie is my all time favorite. I'm SO glad you finally did this! Avocado Pie!? Please for the love of sumo, do a video for Avocado Pie!
I grew up on the east coast of the US and now live on the west coast - we've always called it Sweetened Condensed Milk. Which is probably for the better, since many people here seem to get confused between "condensed milk" and "evaporated milk." My grandfather (who fought in WWI) liked evap milk in his coffee - I imagine it was a holdover from war-time rationing. It's a little thicker, richer, and very slightly sweeter than regular milk, but it does have that "cooked" taste and that slight golden color. In their fridge there was always a little can of Carnation evap with two holes punched in the top and covered with a piece of plastic wrap secured with a rubber band. And because I like to add booze to all kind of things, I will often splash a little tequila into a lime or lemon pie. The ones made with sweetened condensed milk we usually called "ice box pies," I think because some recipes called for them to be chilled without being baked. But since there are raw eggs in there, I prefer to bake them before they go into the ice box.
Just to add more confusion to the Eagle Brand pies -- When I make one, I also put in a block of softened cream cheese blended with the juice of choice and the Eagle Brand. Yummy
In the South, I grew up on lemon ice box pie which is the same as your key lime pie (juice, egg yolks and condensed milk blended and poured into GC crust and then topped with beattened egg whites) except lemon juice is used. These were served at every major group or family dinner social.
Some more florida food history that is intersting is the honeybell tangelo, my absolute favorite citrus. If youve not had any, i DEFINITELY DEFINITELY recommend you try them. The absolute best citrus ive ever had in my life. As someone who worked at a produce stand in orlando for several years and trying things from all around the world, they are amazing and a citrus that cannot be beat for their taste.
Yes! And the Honeybell season is short and they're hard to find...but they are the best! I'm pushing 70 now, but I'm thinking there were small orchards somewhere north of Miami but not too far north...
I do not know how I missed this video. I've been watching your channel from way back. I just have to say the common key lime pie that I grew up eating had condensed milk and evaporated milk. One ingredient I did not see in any of them was the zest of the key limes. It was the ingredient that elevated the Key line flavor. In my opinion, using the zest covered up the evaporated milk flavor.
Glen! I loved this video. First video I’ve seen from you, I will now be watching more. Thanks for the history. I’m on the hunt for the best key lime pie recipe for my boyfriends birthday (his favorite).
The 1936 recipe compares Lime Pies to Lemon and Orange Pies; this maybe implies that Lemon Pies already existed and were a known thing (from the Bordon cookbook perhaps) and Lime Pies are a new (at the time) variation on them.
Im so glad you liked the 3rd pie you made. I am unable to eat dairy as it affects me quite badly. I will have to give that pie a go. They all look delicious!
Interesting video! I have looked at several key lime pie recipes lately and all of them called some varying amount of lime zest in the filling. One used meringue, but most omitted it and called for topping with whipped cream with optional garnish of more lime zest or lime slices. I will have to try your winner because I an a big fan of this dessert ever since our first visit to the “Conch Republic” in 1996. Some that I had there seemed to have some cream cheese in them, putting them somewhere between a pie and a cheesecake. Oddly, I cannot find any recipes that call for cream cheese.
This is my favorite kind of session Glen! Thank you for the work you put into this and all your recipes. I love the mack's place recipe. Florida and the Caribbean have had sugarcane and sugar refining/milling as an industry since the 1600's. What I remember from my first drive through the keys was deep blue seas, storm clouds, incredibles rainbows, roadside fishing, chicken's on the side of the road, beautiful sunshine and sunsets. Honestly didn't see any limes but was told I missed the season since it was February. But there you go, just three (ok 4/5 with salt and the crust) simple ingredients that have been readily available in the keys for centuries. It just makes sense. I live in Asia and just happen to only have access to "key"limes which I am going to pick up from the fruit stand tomorrow...my biggest problem is not having graham crackers for crust...i think i have some digestive crackers that will do the trick:)
This is quite fabulous. I love pie and love finding older recipes. I have my grandmother’s cookbooks from the early 1900’s and there are some gems in them. I will have to try that last pie you made. It is very interesting.
In OH on the edge of Appalachia: sweetened condensed milk even though we know all condensed milk is sweetened. Evaporated milk is not sweetened and always has vitamin D added.
I have just discovered your channel and am enjoying watching. My first thought when watching the Key lime pie session was that there’s no lime zest in the recipes, not only is that going to give more flavour but what a waste to only use the juice, especially as you get so little juice per lime. I was surprised to hear that limes are only available in Canada for a specific short period of the year. In the uk they’re available for a much longer time.
My wife makes it as a double recipe with 3 whole eggs total, bakes it at a lower temp (325) for longer (30 minutes or so) and uses whipped cream for the topping. It tastes way better the next day after being in the fridge. The lower temperature and higher volume makes it caramelize.
I am a fairly new subscriber and just wanted to let you know how much I enjoy your videos. I enjoy the interaction between you and 'Jules'😀 I enjoy the adult beverage videos. I am allergic to preservatives and really despaired being able to drink "fancy" concoctions.... but you have really inspired me! I also enjoy the recipes from years ago. I appreciate that you research the history of the recipes/ingredients. I am still catching up on all your videos!! Thank you and I will be watching!
This is excellent. The history behind key lime pie through records, the Herald, etc is great but no one is going to print their sacred full recipe in print. I loved the honest taste testing, etc. I'm also in Canada (NS) and thought I could never produce a true key lime pie without local/fresh/in-season key limes. But I will give it a go & try!
Gotta agree with you on the naming conventions - here in the UK I wouldn't say sweetened condensed milk, just call it condensed milk. Evaporated milk isn't as sweet or as thick. Loving your videos - thanks very much for showing such a wide range of stuff! Emma
I'm a Florida native and a lover of key lime pie. Modern day key lime pie to me feels more like a tart than a pie, that 1935 pie looks the most like a proper key lime pie. I might have to try making that.
Loved the search and the triple confection! My fav pie when I worked in Atlanta was always key lime pie. Celestine Sibley famous local journalist and writer always quote Mov her mother who was from Florida and her search for authentic ingredients to cook one at her home.
Evaporated milk - unsweetened, condensed milk. Condensed milk - sweetened condensed milk. It depends on where you live. If you want to qualify the milk by adding one word, does it really matter? This has been a great video. Thankyou. All that research. Glad you did that and not me.. it was very interesting.
The non-dairy, merengue folded in, is the Key Lime pie recipe that my mother got when we lived in Florida in the early 1960s. If you wanted to be 'fancy', you made a second batch (3-4 egg whites) of meringue to top the pie prior to baking.. As for pie pan sizes, the rule of thumb in my family was basically a 9 inch for measured recipe pies, ie custards, tarts, and such, and the larger 11 or 12 inch pans for fruit pies, is apple,cherry, ect, and one like pecan and walnut because you needed more room for the irregular sizes of the fruit and but pieces.
What is for me the authentic key lime pie was made by Greenberg's Bakery in New York City, a pate brisee tart crust filled with key lime curd - lime juice, eggs, sugar, butter, thickened in a double-boiler - edged with scallops of whipped cream. Outstanding combination of textures and flavors.
My dad had a calamondin tree for several years before it froze during a cold snap one winter. We made calamondin pie with the sour juice. It was labor intensive, but it's still the best "key lime" style pie I've ever had. It has the intense sour of lime, but with less bitterness and a nice orange flavor.
As someone whose family owned land in the Keys, but has been in Charleston since the 1600s, we have a handwritten version passed down. My grandmother made Key Lime Pie the same way her family would make it: the third version that you made. Though my mother stopped that tradition and we make key lime pie (without the meringue) like the second version and add zest. We prefer a smoother texture and stronger key lime flavor with whipped cream added afterwards. I don’t think we added sour cream like some do.
Same here! I don't actually hate meringue. I hate when I order pie with meringue on it (lemon, lime, orange, etc) and all it is is meringue. Come on people it's LEMON meringue pie, not MERINGUE lemon pie!
Is there a recipe for lime pie in pulitzer prize winning author Marjorie Rawlings cookbook "cross creek"? the book was published in 1942 but Marjorie started collecting recipes when she moved to Florida in 1920. I do not have a copy to check.
I just made the 1935 Mack's Place pie For Easter. I added one extra egg white that I had left over, store bought lime juice, and a graham cracker crust (I prefer this for lime pie). WOW was the flavor and texture of this pie AMAZING! I like key lime pie, but I'm usually terribly disappointed when I eat it. The lime flavor is usually non existent and I'm not a fan of the evaporated milk/condensed milk flavors. I've officially added this one to my pie repertoire!
My history with Key Lime Pie goes back to 1968, we went to the Keys on a family vacation and stayed at a hotel on Islamorada. They served KLP for dessert and it was a big hit with our family. My mom told the waiter she'd love to get the recipe, apparently everybody did because they had it printed on a postcard. So it became a family treat and remains so to this day. The recipe from my mom is hand written on a note card. It is exactly the same as your 1935 Caribbee Colony Key Lime Pie recipe, with a graham cracker/butter crust, the only difference is no meringue topping. You bake it the same, and chill it well, then put whipped cream on top, chill it again until ready to serve, which allows the whipped cream to mingle with the lime flavor of the pie filling. I don't know if that's a change my mom made, or if that's how the hotel made it. The old postcard is long gone. But it's wonderful, so refreshing in the summer, and easy to make. Great video, very interesting and a reminder for me to make it again. Thanks!
You could tell, just by your body language, how excited you were about pie #3 before you said anything about it. That was great! You had a little pep in your step after you took a bite! :)
I wonder if the reason your mix over double boiler didn't thicken as much as you expected was because you reserve 1/2 of your sugar for the merengue. When making jellies and preserves thickening is partially achieved by the higher amount of sugar... lower sugar recipes utilize a different preparation for thickening. Maybe don't divide the sugar in your next attempt.
I remember, back in the day, places like sid&roxie's Green Turtle Inn and other oldies that had a fantastic Key Lime Pie...maybe you could peruse their recipes (if obtainable?). I never did like the pies made with the condensed milk, even Lemon Meringue Pie. The old way was the best in my humble opinion, and my dear mom felt the same way. Thanks for your thought provoking vid!
The Aunt Sally story , sounds like the "Falling. Rock" story . The quintessential dad or Grandpa pulls your leg, by pointing to the road sign, as you drive through a steep sided pass..."there once was an old native man , angry at the workers who blew up the area to make the road, and still tosses rocks down at the driver's below." Lol "They called him falling Rock."
Thanks for watching Everyone! As always the recipes are in the description box. *So... Key Lime Pie. Going way out on a limb until people bring dated proof, but the 1935 Mack’s Place Key Lime Pie, is probably as close to original as we're going to get.*
Best pie ever 👌 thanks 🙏🌹🌿❤️
You need to publish your four pie showdown on March 14: "Pi Day", (3/14).
Excellent video Glen. For the "third pie" you mentioned using only half the sugar. Did you use the remaining half in the meringue or not use it at all?
@@kevingodsave8893 I think he was saying half in the filling and half in the meringue.
My family (Ohio & California) & I have always said 'sweetened condensed milk', BUT you're right. All condensed milk is sweetened and it's not necessary to say that it's sweetened. It's only recently that I've noticed people in Canada, like you, & the UK say 'condensed milk' & wondered why my family says it the other way. Odd. :)
I thought I might have an answer on my bookshelf. My mother was always fascinated by the origins of recipes, and I have her copy of "The United States Regional Cookbook," edited by Ruth Berolzheimer and published in 1937. The book is very much an historical look at food. Its lime pie is called "Florida Persian Lime Pie" and it seems to be the one without condensed milk that you preferred. It contains: 4 eggs, 1 large Persian lime or 11/2 small ones, grated rind of 1 lime, 1 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon flour and 1/4 teaspoon salt. It was to be baked in a pastry shell. The recipe also says that "The first settlers of the Florida Keys found the small key limes growing in the rocky coral soil and used them. The present Persian lime grown now in Florida is comparatively new. The first Persian lime grove to be planted for commercial purposes was started in 1927 just south of Miami. I so enjoy your videos. Frederica Scobey, Minneapolis
My great grandma passed down a key lime pie recipe, just called lime pie that uses the same double boiler method you used. You’re the only channel ive seen that use that method. She has wrriten down to double boil for 20 minutes . Awesome stuff !
Chris I’ve never had a Keylime pie with meringue. My mother’s favorite pie was Keylime pie double boiler method. I have to agree I really love it too , however I have no idea what the other recipes taste like.....so I guess I’m kind of biased, LOL!
Bain-Marie, it is called.
@@madamedellaporte4214 same-same, honestly.
She told me that when she gave me her cat!
As a chef I've never put much stock it romanticized origins of recipes. 18 years ago I married my wife who's from Costa Rica and we moved there from the states and opened a restaurant. My mother-in-law made a lime pie exactly like the Mack's lime pie however she baked her pie in a water bath...it was the best lime pie I had ever eaten and I've eaten alot of lime pies as it my personal favorite. When asked about the recipe she said it was handed down from her mother (needless to say we put it on the menu). According to her story her mother had read in the paper another pie recipe where the meringue was incorporated into the base and baked, but she didn't like way the pie looked and baked it in a water bath which she like better. She was not sure what the original pie recipe was but her mother had baked the pie that way and that's the way she made it. I don't know the year and neither did my mother-in-law, but I know it may favorite and that it was the number one selling dessert at out restaurant. Thanks so much for doing a deep dive into the recipe and history its one hell of a pie!
Hailing from nowhere near Florida so take this with a grain of salt, I heard the key lime pie recipe was developed during the depression because they had a very difficult time getting fresh dairy on the island, which is also why true key lime pie never has whipped cream topping, only merengue. As an aside from a house nerd, I looked up 313 William Street in Key West on Zillow, and OMG, Mrs. McClanahan must have been well-to-do! It’s a huge Queen Anne style house with a double decker wraparound porch and guest cottage, surrounded by lush palm tree landscaping. Anyone interested in moving to Key West, it’s for sale for a mere $3,850,000!
Dear Glen and friends cooking,
My parents vacationed in the Florida keys, for 3 months every year from around 1975 to the late 1980's. They swear up and down to me that the best Key Lime Pies were green color. Even stating that there was a old warehouse/bakery, that they would go to (possibly on Key West itself) and get the pies where they were made on the actual islands.
We took them down for a vacation down there in 2019 and finding someone making a green key lime pie from Islamorado on down to Key west that they wanted was like pulling hens teeth. We tested out many a key lime pie across the islands (all were delicious of course) but my parents were legitimately blown away that they had not gotten their beloved green pies sadly. I guess it became common place back in the day to food dye the pies back then because I started researching it just as you have with the original key lime pie recipe. Apparently in the 1940's greening a lemon or lime pie in florida became fairly popular and by the late 1950's early 1960's became common place at restaurants on the Keys. Matches up with my parents story pretty much made me far less aggravated since they insisted the pies were ALWAYS green!
Figured id just mention this for posterity for someone else searching down the history of key lime pie's and such.
I had a similar experience on my honeymoon in 1973 in Florida. The Key Lime pie was a lovely shade of green with meringue on top. I even found a jello mix for Key Lime pie at the grocery store that you cooked on the stove. It also made a beautiful green pie with meringue.
People have their preference of green or yellow key lime pies, but the green ones are just lemon meringue with lime and green food coloring served by highway diners to tourists because they were cheap to make. That doesn't make it not a tasty pie, but it's not to be confused with what Glen is doing here.
Key limes don't make green juice. Any time you see a green pie it's probably made with Persian limes and not key limes. So it's considered a bad sign/inauthentic.
Both Persian and Key Limes produce a yellow-ish juice. Neither mixed with condensed milk creates a green key lime pie. I don't think the color should matter, so long as you think it tastes good and it is reasonably priced.
Glen: Three pies is too much. Me: No.
I thought the same thing. I also thought, what a fabulous dilemma to have to go through.
Three is the magic number! Two to eat and one to give away, would quickly turn into 3 to eat and I'll make one to give away later... which I'll probably eat too.
We can’t be friends if three key lime pies is too much in a day....lol
I have found my people
Sweet pie and black coffee....breakfast of champions
American's Test kitchen did a blind taste test that found “... that tasters could not tell the difference between pies made with regular supermarket limes (called Persian limes) and true “key” limes.”"
Would be interesting to see you and Jules do a blind taste test and see if waiting for the key limes actually makes a difference!
EDIT: Just saw the ending! Great minds think alike! Looking forward to the results.
I'll admit it wasnt a blind taste test but i did try making key lime pies by following the old recipe (which called for bottled lime juice), I tried it with regular supermarket limes, and with key limes and everyone preferred the key lime even though they were otherwise identical.
If you grew up in Florida (like I did) you can tell the difference between key lime and lemon pie with food colouring. I’ve sent many pies back that were simply lemon pie in disguise. If only the Green Turtle Inn restaurant in the Keys was still around …best pie ever.
I was wondering what a KEFFIR LIME pie would taste like, since it's got such a distinct flavor; unfortunately, those limes are more known for their leaves, as their pulp is very dry & seedy.
Was re-watching this video when something occurred to me; being a fairly traditional southern cook for about 52 years now, and knowing how we work when we don't have a particular item on hand when in the midst of making a certain dish, I think I have an idea how the whole 'lime pie' thing came about. Most likely, a cook, (southern or not doesn't really matter), in the midst of making a usual lemon pie, realizing all she had were limes available to her, simply substituted the limes for the lemons. Probably a good thing it wasn't grapefruits! 😏
I actually love the idea of grapefruit! I love them😊
I wasn't aware that the key lime pie has as contentious a history as barbecue.
The common denominator for both of them being white southerners being involved in the fracas.
@@StirlingVideoLounge Only if they're southern. ;)
StirlingVideoLounge Inquisitor never mentioned being white was a bad thing. Inquisitor literally just mentioned that the southerners were white and you immediately thought “that must be racist”
@@seigeengine I think Blanche Devereaux will disagree!
Myth and Florida sort of go hand in hand.
Now you have me interested - I'd like to see that avocado pie!
Me too!
True!
I know this is old, but I'd also like to see Glen make an avocado pie.
I had an avocado and chocolate tart. The slices of avocado and squares of dark chocolate were alternately layered in a pre-baked pie crust, and then it was put back in the oven just until they started to melt into each other. It was delicious!
I made mack's place key lime pie this weekend and it was wonderful, I will make it again. My granddaughter was here and I showed her how to make a double boiler with a pan, and bowl. I also let her make the meringue, how to fold it into the egg yolk mixture, and how to fill the pie crust without making to big of a mess. U hope she remembers things like this when she grows up. Thank you for the recipe Glen.
Oh geeez...any neighbours of yours selling their houses? Cuz i kinda want to be living next door to yous incase you need to get rid of some pies..
Haha I'll give you my pies anytime you want hahahaha
@@lottatroublemaker6130 🇧🇻 as it comes.
Would you be okay with a roommate?
We tried the 1935 Mack’s Place Key Lime Pie, and it was REALLY good! Thanks for the recipe!
I always say sweetened condensed milk. I've been on food websites for many years, and if you say condensed milk, you'll get a ton of questions about whether it's sweetened condensed or evaporated. I just think it's more concise to include the sweetened. Now I can't wait to make the one with the meringue folded in!
Omg my two favorite subjects combined
Cooking and history
Glad I randomly landed on this channel!
I love how glen always does his research & informs us of the origins & the history behind the recipes. Cracking channel mate, really enjoy your content. Keep it up 👍🏽
I just made the mack's place pie. Sooo fricken delish......winnerwinner chicken dinner. Omg. So delish. Thank you. For the recipe. My egg whites did not peak. So decided to still go for it. And it turned out still. Next time I'm take it slow when making this. Thank you again. Love your vids. Be safe from Vancouver.
Just made it as well... twice. First time I made the meringue too stiff. Turned out like lime mousse. Still tasted incredible.
Working on second batch now with much softer meringue. Hope it comes out a little more dense.
Glen, You totally nerded out on this one and I love it!
Loved this segment! Thanks for the history lesson! Key Lime pie is my all-time favorite pie! As a Floridian, we do love this pie, it's served in almost every restaurant.
Fun fact:
On July 1, 2006, the Florida House of Representatives and the Florida Senate both passed legislation {HB 453} and {SB 676} selecting "Key lime pie" as the official pie of the state of Florida.
“Three pies are too many pies.” BLASPHEMY.
I can't find the history of it online anywhere, but is it possible that the sour orange pie came about prior to any of these, and that is what turned into key lime pie? I'm asking because that seems to be a strictly Florida recipe that people don't talk about much.
I was thinking exactly the same thing. But ran into the issue of all the sour orange pies using condensed milk.
Wait, wait, wait, avocado pie! Why don't you do that my wife and I were idly watching when we heard that statement and we're instantly curious.
That headline at 15:17 though "McADOO PREDICTS LEGALIZED BEER" really tells you the era
I've always said "condensed milk " as I thought it was implied that it was sweetened. Carnation is the brand i'm most familiar with. 🤷🏻♂️
Andrew Kasper it’s either condensed or evaporated. You don’t need to say sweetened because it’s implied. My husband once picked up condensed milk when I need evaporated milk for biscuits and gravy so he might say it matters, though! 😂
I'm not sure it goes as far as a legal definition, but since there's a few brands that dominate the global market its the standard virtually everywhere. If something is sold as "condensed milk" it's always sweetened, but if it's "evaporated milk" it's not. Condensed milk was developed more as a topping or food ingreident whereas evaporated milk was developed as a way to make canned shelf stable milk that could either be drunk directly as a "fortified food", used in foods where you;d use milk, or watered down and consumed like regular milk.
Excellent segment, as always. Thank you!
The popularity of these types of pies in the period between the world wars has to do with another exciting "new" change in culinary tools of the time; the availability of relatively inexpensive electric (or other mechanical) refrigeration. Look through the plethora of refrigerator manufactures' cookbooks from the same period. None is complete without a citrus juice pie recipes very similar to two of your lime pies. A substantial offering of these period recipes relied on condensed milk to make them simple and fool proof using the lower temps available with an electric refrigerator, even in warmer climates. Translucent starch and water (and sometimes egg yolk) pies can be touchy for the inexperienced cook. Also remember, there was very little air conditioning at that time so indoor temps were well above what we would endure today. Your favorite pie would not rely the lower cold of the electric refrigerator to keep set and thus it would have been fine even with lesser refrigeration using solely ice.
Three pies is too many pies
*Gasps in Southern*
When I was growing up in the 50’s, the pie without meringue was one of my mom’s specialities that she brought to church suppers and so forth. Sometimes she made it with lemon, which was also wonderful. I’m pretty sure she submitted it to at least one church cookbook, but my daughter now has my cookbook collection, so I can’t check. This was in rural Iowa.
His recipe calls for a "pastry shell," but it looks as if he's using a graham cracker crust in the video. Which did your Mom use? If a pastry shell, was it pre-baked?
My Key Lime story, since we helped create Florida and were some of the first self-made millionaires in Florida:
History of Key Lime Pie:
As to who made the first key lime pie, no one really knows for sure as it has never been documented.
1800s - William Curry (1821-1896), a ship salvager and Florida’s first self-made millionaire (commonly referred to as rich Bill), had a cook that was simply know as Aunt Sally. It was Aunt Sally who created the pie in the late 1800s. Some historians think that Aunt Sally didn’t create the Key Lime Pie, but probably perfected a delicacy that was the creation of area fishermen. William Curry built a lavish mansion for his family in 1855 that still is being used today as the Curry Mansion Inn.
I do not know if this story is true, but it is widely repeated. One theory is that Aunt Sally already knew how to make a lemon ice box pie which also uses sweetened, condensed milk and egg yolks. But instead of lemons, she used the readily available local key limes.
Sponge Fishermen: Another theory on who first made Key Lime Pie is that sponge fishermen around Key West used to stay at sea for quite a while. Sponge fishing was a booming new business in South Florida but the margins were slim so the rations were meager on his boat - some sugar, eggs, canned milk, soda crackers, some nuts, and citrus fruit. Word spread quickly among the fisherman and the cool tart pie became a staple on those fishing trips. One of these men, maybe even the one who made that inaugural pie, shared the recipe with some woman folk. Perhaps he shared it with Aunt Sally!
1930s - It was not until the 1930s that the first recipes were written down. Until then everyone just knew how to make the pie. No fresh milk, no refrigeration, and no ice was available in the Keys until the arrival of tank trucks with the opening of the Overseas Highway in 1930. Because of this lack of milk, local cooks had to rely on canned sweetened condensed milk, which was invented in 1856 by Gail Borden. Key lime may be the star ingredient of the key lime pie, but it is the sweetened condensed milk that makes it so smooth and delicious.
Key limes are the pink flamingos of Florida food, and they are a celebrated part of local color. The key lime tree, which is native to Malaysia, probably first arrived in the Florida Keys in the 1500s with the Spanish. Key limes look like confused lemons, as they are smaller than a golf ball with yellow-green skin that is sometimes splotched with brown. They are also know as Mexican or West Indian limes. When a hurricane in 1926 wiped out the key lime plantations in South Florida, growers replanted with Persian limes, which are easier to pick and to transport. Today the key lime is almost a phantom and any remaining trees are only found in back yards and their fruit never leave the Florida Keys. Key limes are also grown for commercial use in the Miami area.
1965 - Florida State Representative Bernie Papy, Jr. introduced legislation calling for a $100 fine to be levied against anyone advertising key lime pie that is not made with key limes. This bill did not pass.
In 1994 - The Florida State Legislature officially recognized Key Lime Pie as an important symbol of Florida.
The road to becoming the official state pie, was not an easy one. Since the 1980s, North Florida lawmakers have debated that a pie made of pecans, grown in Florida, would better reflect the state’s history. House Bill 453 and Senate Bill 676 of the Florida Legislature’s Regular 2006 Session made the Key Lime Pie the official Florida state pie as of July 1, 2006.
Sources:
Bahama Currys.
The Curry Family of Monroe County, Florida.
The Remarkable History of the Key Lime Pie, by Scott Hutcheson
SB 676 - Official State Pie/Key Lime.
Thanks for the cut and paste...
I was in Florida when I had my first key lime pie, never new it existed before this experience. Life changing! I am thankful to Florida for this find.
Mrs Beetons (English cooking book, published in 1861) talks about a lemon meringue flan using the cornflour/lemon mixture. We started using the condensed milk method in the 1950's as it was easier to make. Condensed milk here automatically means sweetened. Evaporated milk is a different product, produced by a different method and is not sweetened. Lemon meringue tart/flan is by no means an American invention. Key lime pie is just a version of this using a different citrus. Thank you for your programme. It was interesting to see the 3 different ways you made them.
This is correct. A corn starch or gelatin mixture with no eggs or meringue mixed in. And the pie was usually chilled and not baked. Best way to experience the key lime flavor.
Here in New Zealand, condensed milk always has 'sweetened' in the name, but we just refer to it as condensed milk, since the 'sweetened' is assumed. Nestlé's 'Highlander' brand is probably our most popular. Interestingly, the cans used to be 400 grams, but somewhere while I was growing up it went down to 397 grams.
My grandfather used to put it in his coffee until the doctor told him not to.
Same here in the Mid-Atlantic USA. It says sweetened on the label, but we just call it condensed milk. Either Borden (Eagle) or Carnation are the major brands. I've known a few people who told me their parents or grandparents from Caribbean islands (Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic) always used sweetened condensed milk in their coffee.
Aussie here, we can also get unsweetened condensed milk, nestle brand too. Just to confuse the issue. Evaporated milk is something different entirely.
@@joannesmith2484 yes! In fact SCM is also the creamy ingredient used to make sweetened Thai iced tea. So yummy.
Wow Glenn, you can read my mind. Just yesterday I bought all the stuff to make a key lime pie for the very first time! Never made it before , you are right on time!
My word. I love your videos. The research and history you included in these history recipes. So wonderful!
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS! Lime pie is my all time favorite. I'm SO glad you finally did this! Avocado Pie!? Please for the love of sumo, do a video for Avocado Pie!
Please, avocado pie is interesting to me as well.
I grew up on the east coast of the US and now live on the west coast - we've always called it Sweetened Condensed Milk. Which is probably for the better, since many people here seem to get confused between "condensed milk" and "evaporated milk." My grandfather (who fought in WWI) liked evap milk in his coffee - I imagine it was a holdover from war-time rationing. It's a little thicker, richer, and very slightly sweeter than regular milk, but it does have that "cooked" taste and that slight golden color. In their fridge there was always a little can of Carnation evap with two holes punched in the top and covered with a piece of plastic wrap secured with a rubber band.
And because I like to add booze to all kind of things, I will often splash a little tequila into a lime or lemon pie. The ones made with sweetened condensed milk we usually called "ice box pies," I think because some recipes called for them to be chilled without being baked. But since there are raw eggs in there, I prefer to bake them before they go into the ice box.
This is very interesting. Lime pie are phenomenal! My Mom would make lemon meringue pies on regular pie crust. YUM 😉
Just to add more confusion to the Eagle Brand pies -- When I make one, I also put in a block of softened cream cheese blended with the juice of choice and the Eagle Brand. Yummy
Brilliant idea to go back in history. I’m going to make Mac’s to check it out.
I love these historical cooking videos. Thank you so much!!
In the South, I grew up on lemon ice box pie which is the same as your key lime pie (juice, egg yolks and condensed milk blended and poured into GC crust and then topped with beattened egg whites) except lemon juice is used. These were served at every major group or family dinner social.
Key Lime Pie is my absolute favorite. Thank you for all the historical info and the best recipe.
Some more florida food history that is intersting is the honeybell tangelo, my absolute favorite citrus. If youve not had any, i DEFINITELY DEFINITELY recommend you try them. The absolute best citrus ive ever had in my life. As someone who worked at a produce stand in orlando for several years and trying things from all around the world, they are amazing and a citrus that cannot be beat for their taste.
Yes! And the Honeybell season is short and they're hard to find...but they are the best! I'm pushing 70 now, but I'm thinking there were small orchards somewhere north of Miami
but not too far north...
Jeez never heard of them
@@jesidillon4593 i guess theyre really hard to get outside of florida...
Fantastic compare/contrast! I’m definitely making your favorite of the three! Wonderful episode!
Glen I love your passion. Keep searching and experimenting!
Glen: "The conclusion is there is no conclusion." ha, ha. I love it. Thanks.
I do not know how I missed this video. I've been watching your channel from way back. I just have to say the common key lime pie that I grew up eating had condensed milk and evaporated milk. One ingredient I did not see in any of them was the zest of the key limes. It was the ingredient that elevated the Key line flavor. In my opinion, using the zest covered up the evaporated milk flavor.
Glen! I loved this video.
First video I’ve seen from you, I will now be watching more. Thanks for the history. I’m on the hunt for the best key lime pie recipe for my boyfriends birthday (his favorite).
The 1936 recipe compares Lime Pies to Lemon and Orange Pies; this maybe implies that Lemon Pies already existed and were a known thing (from the Bordon cookbook perhaps) and Lime Pies are a new (at the time) variation on them.
I'd like to know when 'orange' pies fell out of fashion...never thought about one until it was mentioned here!
Im so glad you liked the 3rd pie you made. I am unable to eat dairy as it affects me quite badly. I will have to give that pie a go. They all look delicious!
Wholesome. That what I always think in my head watching your stuff.
Interesting video! I have looked at several key lime pie recipes lately and all of them called some varying amount of lime zest in the filling. One used meringue, but most omitted it and called for topping with whipped cream with optional garnish of more lime zest or lime slices. I will have to try your winner because I an a big fan of this dessert ever since our first visit to the “Conch Republic” in 1996. Some that I had there seemed to have some cream cheese in them, putting them somewhere between a pie and a cheesecake. Oddly, I cannot find any recipes that call for cream cheese.
This is my favorite kind of session Glen! Thank you for the work you put into this and all your recipes. I love the mack's place recipe. Florida and the Caribbean have had sugarcane and sugar refining/milling as an industry since the 1600's. What I remember from my first drive through the keys was deep blue seas, storm clouds, incredibles rainbows, roadside fishing, chicken's on the side of the road, beautiful sunshine and sunsets. Honestly didn't see any limes but was told I missed the season since it was February. But there you go, just three (ok 4/5 with salt and the crust) simple ingredients that have been readily available in the keys for centuries. It just makes sense. I live in Asia and just happen to only have access to "key"limes which I am going to pick up from the fruit stand tomorrow...my biggest problem is not having graham crackers for crust...i think i have some digestive crackers that will do the trick:)
This is quite fabulous. I love pie and love finding older recipes. I have my grandmother’s cookbooks from the early 1900’s and there are some gems in them. I will have to try that last pie you made. It is very interesting.
In OH on the edge of Appalachia: sweetened condensed milk even though we know all condensed milk is sweetened. Evaporated milk is not sweetened and always has vitamin D added.
I have just discovered your channel and am enjoying watching. My first thought when watching the Key lime pie session was that there’s no lime zest in the recipes, not only is that going to give more flavour but what a waste to only use the juice, especially as you get so little juice per lime. I was surprised to hear that limes are only available in Canada for a specific short period of the year. In the uk they’re available for a much longer time.
That surprised me too. In NJ, we can get them year-round, although the cost can fluctuate greatly by the season.
I'm in New Jersey and while I see limes always available the Key West variety which is more bitter is seasonal.
Wow, you really went down a rabbit hole with this one.
My wife makes it as a double recipe with 3 whole eggs total, bakes it at a lower temp (325) for longer (30 minutes or so) and uses whipped cream for the topping. It tastes way better the next day after being in the fridge. The lower temperature and higher volume makes it caramelize.
I am a fairly new subscriber and just wanted to let you know how much I enjoy your videos. I enjoy the interaction between you and 'Jules'😀
I enjoy the adult beverage videos. I am allergic to preservatives and really despaired being able to drink "fancy" concoctions.... but you have really inspired me!
I also enjoy the recipes from years ago. I appreciate that you research the history of the recipes/ingredients.
I am still catching up on all your videos!!
Thank you and I will be watching!
This is excellent. The history behind key lime pie through records, the Herald, etc is great but no one is going to print their sacred full recipe in print. I loved the honest taste testing, etc. I'm also in Canada (NS) and thought I could never produce a true key lime pie without local/fresh/in-season key limes. But I will give it a go & try!
Nice! I will be making that old Mack's. Thanks!
What a delightful video! "The lime is MUTED!"
Gotta agree with you on the naming conventions - here in the UK I wouldn't say sweetened condensed milk, just call it condensed milk. Evaporated milk isn't as sweet or as thick.
Loving your videos - thanks very much for showing such a wide range of stuff!
Emma
I'm a Florida native and a lover of key lime pie. Modern day key lime pie to me feels more like a tart than a pie, that 1935 pie looks the most like a proper key lime pie. I might have to try making that.
Loved the search and the triple confection! My fav pie when I worked in Atlanta was always key lime pie. Celestine Sibley famous local journalist and writer always quote Mov her mother who was from Florida and her search for authentic ingredients to cook one at her home.
l loved hearing the history behind the pie. Thank you!
Holy cow, you really do a lot of research!
Evaporated milk - unsweetened, condensed milk. Condensed milk - sweetened condensed milk. It depends on where you live. If you want to qualify the milk by adding one word, does it really matter? This has been a great video. Thankyou. All that research. Glad you did that and not me.. it was very interesting.
At some point I thought you were going to end this video saying class dismissed 😝😅
I love key lime pie and have to try making one and see how it turns out. Thanks for sharing your recipes and wish you all a great rest of the week.
I just made the Mack's place pie... It's currently in the fridge cooling and I honestly can't wait!!
This channel is so wholesome.
Thanks for the recipe for the pie without condensed milk I am lactose intolerant so now I can also make a lime / lemon pie.
The non-dairy, merengue folded in, is the Key Lime pie recipe that my mother got when we lived in Florida in the early 1960s. If you wanted to be 'fancy', you made a second batch (3-4 egg whites) of meringue to top the pie prior to baking..
As for pie pan sizes, the rule of thumb in my family was basically a 9 inch for measured recipe pies, ie custards, tarts, and such, and the larger 11 or 12 inch pans for fruit pies, is apple,cherry, ect, and one like pecan and walnut because you needed more room for the irregular sizes of the fruit and but pieces.
My stepdad's grandmother made lemon pie with the double boiler method you used. I was lucky she taught it to me.
I've never had a Key Lime Pie with meringue. Which is a good thing for me.
Paul It’s decent. The star, of course, is the the luscious key lime filling.
What is for me the authentic key lime pie was made by Greenberg's Bakery in New York City, a pate brisee tart crust filled with key lime curd - lime juice, eggs, sugar, butter, thickened in a double-boiler - edged with scallops of whipped cream. Outstanding combination of textures and flavors.
My dad had a calamondin tree for several years before it froze during a cold snap one winter. We made calamondin pie with the sour juice. It was labor intensive, but it's still the best "key lime" style pie I've ever had. It has the intense sour of lime, but with less bitterness and a nice orange flavor.
Try passion fruit!
As someone whose family owned land in the Keys, but has been in Charleston since the 1600s, we have a handwritten version passed down. My grandmother made Key Lime Pie the same way her family would make it: the third version that you made.
Though my mother stopped that tradition and we make key lime pie (without the meringue) like the second version and add zest. We prefer a smoother texture and stronger key lime flavor with whipped cream added afterwards. I don’t think we added sour cream like some do.
Good work, y'all! Now I need to make that chiffon recipe.
Yes! "Chiffon" is the French cooking term for the technique of incorporating beaten egg whites into a batter or custard.
Yay a history lesson. I thought Pie 3 looked the most appetizing to myself. I'm not a big fan of meringue topping.
Same here !
Agreed. When I make key lime pie, it doesn’t have a meringue on it.
Same here! I don't actually hate meringue. I hate when I order pie with meringue on it (lemon, lime, orange, etc) and all it is is meringue. Come on people it's LEMON meringue pie, not MERINGUE lemon pie!
Is there a recipe for lime pie in pulitzer prize winning author Marjorie Rawlings cookbook "cross creek"? the book was published in 1942 but Marjorie started collecting recipes when she moved to Florida in 1920. I do not have a copy to check.
Great great series. Thank you
The one with the meringue whipped into the filling seems more like a chess pie. Am I right?
Avocado pie!!!???...interesting...might have to try that, Avocado and Peanut butter sandwiches are great!
I just made the 1935 Mack's Place pie For Easter. I added one extra egg white that I had left over, store bought lime juice, and a graham cracker crust (I prefer this for lime pie). WOW was the flavor and texture of this pie AMAZING! I like key lime pie, but I'm usually terribly disappointed when I eat it. The lime flavor is usually non existent and I'm not a fan of the evaporated milk/condensed milk flavors. I've officially added this one to my pie repertoire!
My history with Key Lime Pie goes back to 1968, we went to the Keys on a family vacation and stayed at a hotel on Islamorada. They served KLP for dessert and it was a big hit with our family. My mom told the waiter she'd love to get the recipe, apparently everybody did because they had it printed on a postcard. So it became a family treat and remains so to this day. The recipe from my mom is hand written on a note card. It is exactly the same as your 1935 Caribbee Colony Key Lime Pie recipe, with a graham cracker/butter crust, the only difference is no meringue topping. You bake it the same, and chill it well, then put whipped cream on top, chill it again until ready to serve, which allows the whipped cream to mingle with the lime flavor of the pie filling. I don't know if that's a change my mom made, or if that's how the hotel made it. The old postcard is long gone. But it's wonderful, so refreshing in the summer, and easy to make. Great video, very interesting and a reminder for me to make it again. Thanks!
Ooooo thank you for sharing a non dairy Lime Pie! Lactose intolerant here
You could tell, just by your body language, how excited you were about pie #3 before you said anything about it. That was great! You had a little pep in your step after you took a bite! :)
I wonder if the reason your mix over double boiler didn't thicken as much as you expected was because you reserve 1/2 of your sugar for the merengue. When making jellies and preserves thickening is partially achieved by the higher amount of sugar... lower sugar recipes utilize a different preparation for thickening. Maybe don't divide the sugar in your next attempt.
Glen got so excited at 18:20 watch him light up with joy!
Chill over night. Cook crust, then pie, then with mereign
Just made the Mack's place 1935 recipe and it came out pretty good!
I remember, back in the day, places like sid&roxie's Green Turtle Inn and other oldies that had a fantastic Key Lime Pie...maybe you could peruse their recipes (if obtainable?). I never did like the pies made with the condensed milk, even Lemon Meringue Pie. The old way was the best in my humble opinion, and my dear mom felt the same way. Thanks for your thought provoking vid!
You should make a Mississippi Lemon Icebox pie. It's amazing.
I’m sorry a “avocado pie” ? What!?!?!? I must know what that entails now
U.S. here. I've never seen a Key Lime Pie look like any of the ones you baked. Now, I'm curious!
Glen: Three pies is too much. Me: YES :)
I appreciate the thumbnail! :)
The Aunt Sally story , sounds like the "Falling. Rock" story . The quintessential dad or Grandpa pulls your leg, by pointing to the road sign, as you drive through a steep sided pass..."there once was an old native man , angry at the workers who blew up the area to make the road, and still tosses rocks down at the driver's below." Lol "They called him falling Rock."