Vinegar Pie! It is mentioned in Farmer Boy and possibly other books. Almanzo digs into slices of apple and vinegar pie. It seems that vinegar was often used in place of citrus, since those fruits weren't readily available in the US until fairly recently. An orange and a penny in the stocking at Christmas were considered mighty special. I liked the sound of this pie, so I chose it as my last challenge to veganize.
Common Family Paste for Pies
You'll need: 1 1/4 c flour
1/2 t salt, scant
1/3 c lard (I used 1/3 c. shortening)
1/2 t butter (I used Earth Balance)
Chill all ingredients and bowl
Mix flour and salt
Spoon shortening into flour and blend with fingers dipped in cold water. Continue to toss as you add 3 T ice water. Press into a ball and chill whilst preparing the filling. Roll out and lay in pie pan.
Vinegar Pie
You'll need 1/4 c butter (I used Earth Balance)
2 eggs (I used a mixture of agar and Instant Clear Jel. This was the tricky thing to sub here.)
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c brown sugar
1/4 c flour
few grindings of nutmeg
3 T vinegar, cider
-Melt Earth Balance.
-Blend sugars, flour and nutmeg with 4.5 T instant clear jel
-Boil 1 c water with 1/2 t agar
-Stir into the sugar mixture the vinegar, Earth Balance and 1 c water til well mixed. Pour into unbaked pie shell and bake at 400 for 30 minutes.
As you can see, this held its shape nicely when sliced. The flavour is quite strong and unique but I enjoy it. The amount of filling was less than needed for a 9 inch crust, so you could use 8 or maybe even 7 inches here. I like the ratio of crust to filling in the 9 inch pie plate, though. It isn't too thick and keeps the vinegar flavour from being overpowering.
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10 comments:
I think this is the closest thing to vegan chess pie that I have ever seen. Once MoFo is over, I have to try it!
Looks yummy!
John, I have a feeling the texture of this may be different. I'm thinking you could perhaps skip the agar and just do the clear jel and see how it sets. Once I get my lime tart made I may try to tweak this recipe a bit. I also found that the flavour mellowed over about 4 days.
I saw a recipe for this (not vegan) in my MIL's Appalachian cookbook. It's on my to-veganize list, but it looks like you beat me to it!! Looks good!
In my re-make of Shaker Lemon Pie, I've used only clearjel. It's good, but not a traditional chess pie texture. Nonetheless, this looks worthy.
It is definitely tasty! And I think it is quite versatile. You could add more spices or nuts or what have you. Might be good with come coconut or pecans.
that really is a tricky substitute, Panda - but the results look great and i think i'd love the taste of this pie as well. it looks so good and i love that's a brown food, too. awesome all around!
Vinegar pie, eh? Never heard of such a thing. But hey, when times are tough and fruit isn't aplenty, you've got to get creative with desserts. Cool, I've learned something new today already. :)
We had this cookbook when I was a little girl:) Can't remember what recipes we actually made from it, but I don't think this one. Looks like it was a great success, and it helps me out with some recipes I've been wanting to veganize. Thanks:) And thanks for featuring me on your MoFo round up! It was so exciting to be reading it and see my pie front and center!
High-paw! I would eat the shit out of this.
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