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Hi, I'm John Kennell. And today at Preppy Kitchen we will prepare a savory, incredible lemon meringue pie. So, let's begin. First, the foundation. You have a choice: store-bought or homemade. If you are using a store-bought pie crust, bake it according to the instructions. If you want to make a wonderful, creamy homemade base, click here for my video on pie base where I show you all my tips and tricks on how to make it and turn it into this. Basically, after chilling the dough, you roll it out into a 12- inch circle, transfer it to a pan, fold the edges in, pinch them together, and chill. I did this a few days ago.
It was in the freezer, and now it's ready to use. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees, poke holes in the base, and line with parchment paper and some foil. I just bent the edge here to make it stronger. Your pie crust is very tender when it starts to bake. It can melt and turn into a puddle. That's why we refrigerate it and support it with foil. And now we need weights to hold it down, otherwise the steam will turn it into a huge bubble, unusable. You can use dried beans or special baking weights. My homemade base is ready for the oven, 425 °F for 20 minutes. Then we carefully remove the paper, foil, and beans and return it to the oven for another 15-20 minutes, or until it is dry and golden. Just make sure it's on a baking sheet with sides.
We send inside. If you are baking a homemade base, it is very important to cover it with foil after you return it to the oven without loads. You can use a special pie ring or simply fold the foil and loosely cover the edges. This will protect the cake from burning. Now we can prepare a rich and savory lemon cream for the filling. For this you will need five egg yolks. So, separate the yolks from the whites. I usually say not to worry if a little yolk gets into the egg white, but I'm going to use four out of five egg whites for the meringue at the end of the recipe. So be careful. And if you're really worried about the yolk breaking, use a
separate bowl and do everything one at a time. I'll take the risk. two What's really great about this recipe, if you use my dough recipe, is how the crispy buttery base combines with the chewy filling and airy meringue on top. But even if you love lemon meringue, when buying it from a bakery, it's worth remembering that it's been sitting there for a while. But tasting a fresh dessert without any preservatives is a real pleasure. The fifth yolk, which means we put this extra egg white in a separate bowl. Maybe for your breakfast tomorrow. So, I have five yolks for now and four egg whites for later. Now I can transfer the yolks to a larger bowl, or I could take it right away. Oh. Take a whisk and mix it all together. That wonderful color
you love so much in lemon curd comes from the yolks, not the lemon juice. Okay, put that aside. Now take a medium saucepan and scales if you want and add the I need 6 tablespoons of cornstarch. Starch will help our cream thicken. Not enough-and it can be liquid. Too much and it will become rubbery. So be very precise here. Now I need 1 and 1/4 cups of granulated sugar. That's 250 g. And finally, 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Another whisk, just mix everything well. It wasn't the right wreath. Now that's good. We're beating it now because that way there's less chance of the starch forming lumps if it combines well with the sugar. Good. Now that everything is mixed, let's move on to the lemons -the star of our lemon meringue
pie. For maximum flavor, we will use both zest and juice. I will need 2 tablespoons of lemon zest. That's about two lemons. You can add a little more if you wish. I often do that. If you're worried about the texture of the zest in your lovely delicate kurta, don't worry. We'll strain it later anyway. Good. And if you don't have a microplane in your kitchen, this is one of my favorite tools. You can use it to grate citrus zest or get clouds out of cheese. So it is convenient for both savory and sweet dishes. Also for grating nutmeg. Lots of lemon zest. How delicious it smells. So much aroma in these essential oils. Now you can add the zest to the sugar. By the way, if you like my recipes, click the subscribe button. Two new recipes every week.
Now let's squeeze the lemon juice. For the juice, you will need 3/4 cup or 180 ml. Please, no seeds. This recipe appeared in Philadelphia in the 19th century. It was invented by a pastry chef named Elizabeth Goodfellow, and we are grateful to her for that. I think this pie became very popular in the 50s as well. This is a true diner classic. You can choose apple or lemon meringue pie, or chocolate if you're lucky. Partly because it keeps well, so this recipe can be made in advance. Your homemade lemon meringue pie can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. I would say three or four, if not for the meringue hat. It is the meringue that begins to lose its shape over time.
Good. 3/4 cup is ideal. Now you can add liquid. I will slowly pour in 1 and 1/4 cups of water, stirring constantly. This is again to avoid lumps. This is 300 ml. When I'm cooking something that needs to be stirred constantly in a pot over a fire, I like to use a narrow whisk. Regular whisks can't reach the corners well, and it's annoying. OK. We already have all the water, but what about the lemon juice? We will add it now. And never be tempted to use bottled lemon juice for this recipe. Don't do this. The starch has dissolved, so put it on medium heat and stir almost constantly until it thickens. I'll show you what it looks like. This will take about 5 minutes. There's no need to be too meticulous about stirring here. That's when eggs appear
in the mix, that's when things can go wrong. And now it's just water, sugar, starch, and lemon juice. Nothing complicated. I understand that this recipe is a bit more complicated than a cupcake or cake, but if you really want to make it but don't have the time, I recommend breaking the process down into stages. For example, one day you can make a pie crust or just buy it at the store. Another day, you can take it out of the refrigerator or freezer, roll it out, and shape it. It can last in the freezer for a long time. Then you can do this part, and, honestly, the starch, lemon zest, water, and sugar can sit in the fridge for a few
hours. After that, you can prepare everything and fill the pie. That is, you can easily do it in stages. After a few minutes of stirring, the mixture will turn from liquid to gel-like. And it will happen gradually, and then just.That's it. Look. You see, it also changed color. If you're curious, just grab a wooden spoon. Dip it in and the fingerprint should remain. You see, you can already tell how thick it is, but it's time to temper the mixture. If I pour all this into the egg yolks, they might curdle, which is unacceptable. So, you can measure out, or, like me, eyeball 1 cup of this hot mixture and slowly pour it in, whisking vigorously.
Now it's time to go back to the saucepan, take this egg mixture and pour it in a thin stream, whisking constantly. Slowly pour this back in while continuing to whisk. Once everything is combined, you can return to medium heat and stir constantly until the mixture thickens. We will look for the trace that remains during mixing. I'll show you what the texture looks like. This is the most important part of this recipe. When you're making lemon curd, you can't trust a thermometer. It all has to depend on the texture. When whipping, I like to start in the center, making larger and larger circles until I reach the edge, then return to the center.
This helps me make sure there are no pieces on the bottom that will overcook. Okay, I see, it's just starting to bubble up. I'm already very close. I just want to see the trail my whisk leaves. That's it. Remove this from the heat as soon as you see bubbles and a whisk mark. It looks delicious, but something is missing-a little shiny fat to make it melt on your tongue and bring pleasure with every bite. butter. I'll take 4 tablespoons of diced butter, it should be cold. This will help cool the mixture a bit and also make it much richer. This is incredible. Stir in the butter until it is completely melted. If you want to get a perfectly smooth Kurd, you can rub it through a sieve right now. I'm
picky about texture, but it doesn't bother me because the zest is cooked through well. She is very soft now. It also has a lot of lemon flavor left in it, so it's a bit of a compromise. You may also want to strain the mixture if you are worried that there may be burnt areas or small overheated pieces left in the pan. I'm pretty sure nothing like that is happening, but it never hurts to check. My pie crust has already come out of the oven and is cooling. I'll remove the protection, and now you can pour in the warm filling. Pour the lemon curd into the mold. Use a spatula to collect everything down to the last drop. No waste.
Flatten it a little, and now you can put it in the refrigerator for 4 to 24 hours. If you plan to keep it in the refrigerator for a long time, I recommend covering it with parchment paper to prevent a crust from forming. The cake has cooled, so preheat the oven to 180 degrees and you can prepare the meringue. In the bowl of a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, add four egg whites and a quarter teaspoon of cream of tartar. This is an acid obtained during wine production, it stabilizes our meringue. I recommend using finely ground powdered sugar, not regular sugar. Start on low speed, gradually increasing to medium-high, and beat until the egg whites become foamy. While it is beating, measure out half a cup of sugar. 100
grams. To get the best meringue, add the sugar very slowly. That's it, in a thin stream. Very slowly. You can add one spoon at a time if that's more convenient for you. If you just pour all the sugar in at once, the meringue won't have that wonderful fluffy consistency. It is necessary for the sugar to dissolve in the proteins, and this is only possible if it is added slowly while beating. If you're watching this video, love lemon and pastries, but don't like meringue, you can decorate the cake with whipped cream, berries, or leave it as is. You are not required to make meringue. You can just make a wonderful lemon pie. I only added two-thirds of the sugar, and the mixture is already so silky and thick.
By gradually adding sugar, you will get a thick, marshmallow-like consistency of meringue. This is great because it should hold its shape and not melt on the lemon curd. I'll stop here to show that we already have a thick, beautiful, glossy meringue. We will beat for another 5 minutes. This will help the sugar dissolve better, and it will become even better. 5 minutes, medium power. We will be back soon. After 5 minutes, I have a thick and wonderful meringue. You'll even hear the sound of the mixer change as it starts working harder, whipping up that thick marshmallow mass. You see, it's so silky. make sure all the sugar has dissolved. Take
a little with a clean hand and rub it between your fingers. It should be nice and smooth. If you feel any lumps, continue whisking. Carefully spread the meringue over the lemon curd. Kurd is soft, remember? So you just spread small "islands" on the surface and lightly level them. Once all the meringue is transferred, your task is to completely cover the top with it. It should touch the edges so that the Kurd is not exposed. Now carefully pull the meringue up to the edges of the dough. When the meringue is set around the edges, it's much easier to use a spatula to fill in the gaps and make pretty patterns.
Beautifully twisted. My lemon meringue pie is ready for the oven. 175°C for 15-20 minutes. Your cake will be golden on top and look great. We send it to the oven. Once the meringue is baked, serve immediately or refrigerate up to 4 hours before serving. If you don't want to bake, you can simply light the meringue with a torch. This will give a more spectacular look and it's pretty quick. I baked and cooled my meringue, but I want to show you how it looks under the burner because it's very interesting and impressive.
Even a light burnishing will add nice contrast. Now your lemon meringue pie is ready to be cut. Cut off a piece and you're ready Savory, creamy, light, with a wonderfully crispy shortcrust base-how could it not be delicious? Mmm. I hope you managed to make this wonderful recipe, and if you like my videos, click the subscribe button and watch my pie playlist.
