Thanskgiving Ideas

You are right, Max, Thanksgiving is our kind of holiday. I’m already cooking and hunting up favorite recipes. I don’t know about your house, but try a new recipe for Thanksgiving (in hopes that you can drop another dish) and it instantly becomes a “must have” dish. So the menu just keeps getting longer and longer.

You know how I am about Thanksgiving pies. There must be Mincemeat, Pumpkin and Bourbon Pecan–and only three of us for dinner!! We often don’t even get to the pies until late that evening or sometimes the next day after all the other stuff on the menu.

I’m thinking about adding a Kentucky Lemon Pie this year. One of the great aunts used to always bring it and with its nice tart lemon taste, family members would often eat a bit of this directly after the main meal. This is an old recipe from at least the 1930’s, and it travels well since it isn’t runny or covered with a meringue. Quite different than what most people think of as Lemon Pie.

Kentucky Lemon Pie:

6 eggs
Juice of 2 lemons
1 ½ cups light corn syrup
¾ cup sugar
1/8 cup butter
Grated rind of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon cornstarch
One unbaked pie shell

Beat eggs well in mixer. Add syrup and continue beating. Mix cornstarch and sugar and slowly add to the eggs. Grate the lemon with a grater. Juice the lemons with a citrus juicer. Add lemon juice, rind and melted butter to eggs.

Pour into unbaked pie shell. Bake on lower rack of the oven at 375 degrees for 15 minutes and then reduce the temperature to 300 degrees for 40 minutes until pie is set. Remember that pies will continue cooking after they are removed from the oven.

Serve chilled and in small slices as it is rich.