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4 large pasteurized egg yolks (see About Pasteurized Eggs, frontmatter)

Pinch of salt

One 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk

½ cup fresh Key lime juice (12 to 14 Key limes; see Note above)

1 baked 9-inch pie shell (see About Pie Crusts, frontmatter)

1¼ cups heavy cream, whipped to soft peaks with 3 tablespoons confectioners’ (10 X) sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F. Whisk the egg yolks and salt until smooth, then whisk in the sweetened condensed milk. Add the lime juice slowly, whisking gently all the while, then continue whisking for about 2 minutes or until slightly thickened.

2. Pour the filling into the baked pie shell, spreading to the edge; slide onto the middle oven shelf and bake for 15 minutes or until softly set.

3. Remove the pie from the oven, set on a wire rack, and cool to room temperature.

4. Swirl the whipped cream over the filling, making sure that it touches the crust all around. Refrigerate the pie for several hours before serving.

5. To serve, cut the pie into slim wedges. Refrigerate any leftover pie.

Variation

Classic Key Lime Pie with Meringue: Prepare the recipe through Step 2. While the pie bakes, beat 3 large pasteurized egg whites to soft peaks with 1/3 cup sugar or unsifted confectioners’ (10X) sugar (my preference because it makes for a more stable meringue). Swirl the meringue over the hot filling, making sure that it touches the crust all around. Return to the middle oven shelf and bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until the meringue is tipped with brown. Cool the pie before cutting. Any leftover pie should be stored in the refrigerator.

Destination: Lime Pie!…Down in the Keys, where the wild limes grow, everyone uses the little yellow-green fruit with a tang that no other lime can boast.

—CLEMENTINE PADDLEFORD, HOW AMERICA EATS

BROWN SUGAR PIE

MAKES 8 SERVINGS

I fell in love with this pie at the age of five in, of all places, the basement cafeteria of the Fred A. Olds Elementary School in Raleigh. It was my introduction to southern cooking and the beginning of my lifelong fascination with it. I have, however, added a personal fillip: After melting the butter, I let it brown slightly.

1 pound light brown sugar

4 large eggs

¼ cup milk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

¼ teaspoon salt

½ cup (1 stick) butter, melted (see headnote)

One 9-inch unbaked pie shell (see About Pie Crusts, frontmatter)

1. Preheat the oven to 325° F.

2. Blend the brown sugar, eggs, milk, vanilla, and salt until smooth, then add the butter in a slow stream, beating all the while.

3. Pour the filling into the pie shell, slide the pie onto a baking sheet, and bake on the middle oven shelf for 50 to 60 minutes or until puffed and golden brown.

4. Transfer the pie to a wire rack and cool to room temperature before cutting. The filling will fall slightly—all chess pies do as they cool. Serve as is or top with whipped cream.

150-YEAR-OLD MOLASSES PIE

MAKES 6 TO 8 SERVINGS

Sorghum molasses (or “sweet sorghum,” as it’s also known) is most likely what cooks in rural Kentucky, the Blue Ridge, and the Smokies would have used in this pie a hundred years ago or more because nearly every family grew a patch of this grain to feed their livestock—plus a little extra for themselves. Early on, farmers learned how to press the juice from sorghum’s ripe seed clusters and boil it down into a sweet, thick syrup the color of amber: “nothin’ better on hot biscuits or pancakes.” If you’re traveling about Appalachia, you’re bound to see mason jars of sorghum molasses for sale at roadside stands and in country stores. I urge you to buy a quart. Sorghum molasses is lighter, mellower, and sweeter than cane molasses and its flavor is unique. You can also order sorghum molasses online (see Sources, backmatter) and, failing that, you can substitute a light, unsulfured cane molasses in this recipe and in any others that call for “sweet sorghum.”

1/3 cup sugar

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg or ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

¼ teaspoon salt

3 large eggs

¾ cup