Foods, their selection and preparation

Banana Cream Pie. One to two medi¬ um-sized bananas are peeled and sliced and added to the basic cream filling before it is placed in the shell or sliced into the shell and covered with the filling. Any fruit may be added to a cream pie. If it is a juicy fruit which has a tendency to thin the filling, the amount of thickening in the filling should be increased. Coconut Cream Pie. About 1/2 cup coconut may be added to the basic filling, and 2 tablespoons added to the meringue or sprinkled on top of the meringue. Butterscotch Pie. Use brown sugar in place of the white sugar called for in the thickened portion of the basic recipe for cream pie, and add at least 2 tablespoons but¬ ter or margarine, or part of the white sugar may be caramelized. (See page 35.) Chocolate Pie. Melt two squares (two ounces) bitter chocolate in the milk as it heats, increase the sugar by 2 tablespoons, and reduce the flour about 2 tablespoons so that the mixture will not be too stiff. Lemon Pie. Lemon-meringue pie is one of the favorite cream pies, but presents spe¬ cial problems. If made with milk, the lemon juice tends to curdle the milk. This can be prevented by thickening the milk with the starch and cooling the mixture before the lemon juice is added. Since a clear lemon-pie filling is desired, water is often used in¬ stead of milk. Even then the custard portion should be cooked and cooled before the lemon juice is added, to minimize the thin¬ ning effect of the acid. The extra sugar needed with the lemon juice also has a thinning effect. Lemon pie takes about twice as much sugar as most other cream pies; therefore, most good rec¬ ipes for lemon-pie filling call for approxi¬ mately twice as much starch as other cream-pie fillings. Since so much starch is needed, usually cornstarch is used rather than flour. With cornstarch and water, the result is a clear filling, which many people like in lemon pie. To provide richness, butter or marga¬ rine should be added. The following recipe has been found to give good proportions for lemon-pie filling when properly combined and cooked. More sugar may be desired. That is a matter of taste. Mix well the starch, sugar, and salt. Add the hot water while stirring constantly and Lemon Pie Fill ing (One Pie) 6 tablespoons cornstarch 3 egg yolks 1 cup sugar Juice of 2 medium-sized £ teaspoon salt lemons (6 tablespoons) 1£ cups hot water Grated rind of 1 lemon 1£ to 2 tablespoons butter or margarine bring the mixture to a hard boil for at least one minute. Or the starch, sugar, and water mixture may be cooked in the double boiler for 15 to 20 minutes, with frequent stirring. Remove from the heat and cool slightly before adding the beaten yolks. Cook these over hot water (not boiling), stirring constantly. When the yolks are cooked, remove the mixture from the heat and add the lemon juice, grated rind, and butter or margarine. (It is easier to grate lemon rind before cutting the lemon.) Then cool, chill, beat, and place in the baked pie shell, and top with meringue. While this is the usual lemon-pie filling, the filling may be made on a true custard basis, no starch being used. Review custards and work out a recipe for lemon pie using no starch.