Dr. Carolyn Lee reflects on a different cliché each week. Recently, in her blog, “A Trip Down Memory Lane, Carolyn talks about the phenomenon of our memories. This week Carolyn explores the cliché, easy as pie.
Learn more about Dr. Carolyn Lee on her biography page or investigate 29 more clichés in her latest book, Keep Your Eye on the Ball And other Clichès to Live by.
Easy as Pie
Are you kidding? Whoever came up with that idea had obviously never attempted to create a pie of the lemon meringue variety—with a homemade crust. Making a lemon meringue is a risky, labor-intensive undertaking. The only thing easy about it is eating it, with a cup of tea, after it cools.
I’m talking about a from-scratch pie. I don’t think many people make their own pie crust these days. It’s too easy to pick one up from the dairy section of the grocery store. Although, if you type “pie crust” into the search slot on Allrecipes.com, you’ll get 3,095 recipes from which to choose. Of course, there’s the “Grandma’s Secret Pie Crust” recipe, but that is followed by 3,094 other options featuring everything from coconut oil to Vodka. I have a pie crust recipe that was given to me by the mother of a friend of mine. She was a home-economics teacher, and she assured me this fool-proof, sure-thing recipe would result in a crust that was, without question, several steps above the store-bought type. So I sifted the flour and salt together, cut in a cup and a half of shortening, added one egg, five tablespoons of cold water and one tablespoon of vinegar. I let it cool before rolling it out, and, after one or two clumsy attempts that failed, I gently placed it in a deep-dish pie plate. Then I carefully, with the thumb of one hand the thumb and index finger of the other, fluted the edges. Beautiful!
Next, I found a recipe for “Never-Fail Lemon Meringue Pie,” and began the process of creating the filling. I combined the sugar and water, the salt and cornstarch, the fresh squeezed lemon juice and the lemon zest, the four egg yolks, the butter, and then I stirred and stirred until the mixture thickened. While the filling was still hot, I beat the egg whites, slowly adding the sugar until stiff peaks began to form. Then I poured the filling into the beautiful pie crust, covered it with the beaten egg whites, and stuck the pie in the oven so the meringue could turn a golden brown.
Now, here’s what I could have done if I had wanted an “easy” pie. I could have selected a Marie Callender’s Pastry Pie Shell from the freezer section, already in the pan, already fluted. Or I could have opted for a Pillsbury Premade Refrigerated Pie Crust, two in a package for $2.98. I would have been required to roll it out and put it in a pan. Then I could have bought a package of Jell-O Instant Lemon Pudding and Pie Filling—no additional ingredients, no cooking, no stirring. Within moments I would have a pie ready for a topping. There is no such thing as Instant Meringue, so how about a topping of Cool-Whip?
I believe that, if you put both of these desserts, the homemade and the store-bought, side by side, in front of your dinner guests, asked them to sample each and express an opinion, 98% of them would vote for the homemade pie. But if you just served them the easy pie, the one with the frozen crust, the Jell-O filling, and the Cool Whip topping, they’d love it. So why go to the considerable trouble of making an honest-to-goodness, homemade, from-scratch lemon meringue pie?
My guess is that people would have a lot of different answers to that question. In various test kitchens where the taste of homemade and store-bought crusts were compared, homemade came out on top, but not dramatically. The crusts were nutritionally comparable, and the price difference was nominal. The most significant difference was in the time required to prepare each crust. My guess is that taste tests involving the pie filling would be slightly more decisive. I’ve never seen a study in which homemade lemon pie filling was compared to Jell-O instant pudding, but I bet the homemade variety would win by a fairly large margin.
It seems to me that, all things considered, a homemade lemon meringue is the clear winner. But I’m not a purist. I don’t want to be a pie snob. I like to cook; I have the time; I enjoy the process. I think “enjoyment” is the key here. For the cook who doesn’t have the time and doesn’t particularly enjoy the process, there is no shame in going the store-bought route. For that cook, baking a pie can be a piece of cake!
Want to Read More?
Check out Dr. Carolyn Lee’s blogs on her website, she features a new cliché each week or you can order her new book, Keep Your Eye on the Ball And Other Clichès to Live By. Curious about the author? Read more about Carolyn here.
