Chess pie, cheese pie, grammar pie
Discussion among friends often turns to food, especially during the couple of weeks in the year when too many of us overeat. One particularly interesting discussion this year was about Chess Pie. Two friends (one from Arkansas and one from Oklahoma) remember it fondly, while others asked “Does it look like a chessboard?” “Is it related to grammar pie?”
After hearing various descriptions, Chess Pie sounds to me very like an early nineteenth century cheesecake. The sort with no cheese. The sort that Nicole and I tested for the Regenecy Gothic Banquet (which is now this year - woohoo!!).
If anyone has any experiences of chess cakes and grammar cakes, let me know and I’ll add them to the mix. In a few days time I’ll put a chess cake recipe up here, specially for the sharers of the original discussion.
Why a few days? I don’t think I can stand to see another cake recipe just now. I’ve hidden the sugar. Having Chanukah and then Christmas and then New Year in quick succession was just a bit much. At least next year two out of the three overlap…
January 21st, 2008 at 7:42 am
Chess Pie — I’m a recent transplant to Texas from the Land of 10,000 Lakes. I’m also the household’s chief cook and bottle washer. I first heard of Chess Pie at Christmas time when my partner’s brother talked about the Chess pies their mother would make years ago. I asked what it tastes like and he responded that it’s similar to a Buttermilk Pie (being a Yankee, that didn’t register either). Last week I was confronted with making a Lemon Chess Pie by accident. My intension was to make a Lemon Merangue Pie. I made and baked a crust, and squeezed the lemons and scraped the zest. I went to make the filling and realized I had no corn starch. YIKES!! After scouring the internet for recipes that took a baked pie shell and lemon juice I came across a Lemon Chess Pie recipe. The tablespoon of corn meal freaked me out a bit, but forged on with it. IT WAS WONDERFUL! I added a bit more lemon (and therefore a bit more sugar) than called for. It even impressed the life-long Texans. Pretty soon I’ll be saying “y’all”.
January 23rd, 2008 at 9:05 am
Thank you for this. My Arkansas friend described her chess pie for me today and yours sounds a bit similar in terms of high sweetness. Hers actually had cheese, which makes everything turn interesting.