A gentleman friend spoke to me so often about a wonderfully delicious
pie that a lady friend in the country made, that it is not surprising
that a person of my culinary tastes should have been very curious. “I
will send for the receipt,” said I. “But that will not benefit you,” he
replied, “for I have given the receipt to several of my friends, and
they never succeed. Instead of the light production three or four inches
high of my country friend, the others are heavy, waxy affairs, very
different.” I actually took a little journey to see the lady, to get any
side explanations from her own lips. I was repaid, as you will see by
trying the pie.
Ingredients: For two pies, five eggs, three quarters of a cupful of
butter, one cupful of sugar, and necessary flavoring.
Beat the yolks and sugar together until they are a perfect froth. Beat
the butter until it is a creamy froth also. Now quickly add them
together, flavoring with a little extract of vanilla. Bake it in a
crust: it will rise very light. As soon as done, have ready the whites
of the eggs beaten to a stiff froth, sweetened with a little sugar, and
flavored with a few drops of the extract. Spread this over the tops of
the pies, which return to the oven, to receive a delicate coloring.
The lady says the secret of the pies not becoming heavy is in cutting
them, and distributing them on the plates, as soon as they are cooked,
and still hot; that if they are allowed to cool without cutting them,
they will fall. This is rather strange; nevertheless, it seems to be
true.