Welcome to the free issue of Between the Layers: An honest conversation about life through the lens of cooking and baking. For more recipes, consider becoming a Paid Subscriber. Beat the Heat with Atlantic Beach Pie - No. 133A sweet and salty story of a cracker-crumbed North Carolina lemon pie that went viral & a dive into Saltine crackersToday I’m thrilled to be collaborating with Doug Mack, the writer behind Snack Stack who was curious how cracker crumbs have been used not just in this lemon pie but in many of our favorite recipes. I met Doug through Substack’s Food Intensive, and I appreciate his wit and wisdom diving into the cultural side of snacks. Here is Doug’s story and how to subscribe to his newsletter. There once was a lemon pie that went viral. Atlantic Beach Pie —light and lemony, thick with sweetened condensed milk, resting on a salty bed of crushed Saltines, and piled high with meringue or whipped cream. It was born on the coastal slice of North Carolina accustomed to fried flounder as well as hurricanes and power outages. A place where you reach for a can of milk if you want to make lemon pie. I know these pies. Not the frozen lemon icebox pie my mother stashed in our chest freezer. Instead, lemon pies with a tall baked meringue or a squirt of whipping topping that follow a meal at the beach. They have only a handful of ingredients and don’t require a pastry chef. And this particular pie came out of the fish houses of eastern North Carolina, says chef Bill Smith, its creator. You might know Bill’s name if you dined at Crook’s Corner restaurant in Chapel Hill where he built on the legacy of restaurant founder, the late Bill Neal, and focused on regional foods and recipes and elevating Southern cooking in a way that wasn’t stuffy, just real and honest and nicely done. Bill Smith was planning what he called a ‘’Down East’’ menu to serve to food lovers in the Southern Foodways Alliance when he needed a local dessert. He remembered the lemon pie served at seafood joints on the coast, and he named it Atlantic Beach because that’s the beach town he’d frequent the most. No surprise, the food people loved it, so he put it on the Crook’s Corner menu, and in 2013, cookbook author Katie Workman dines there and describes to NPR’s All Things Considered the following, which is how this pie went viral: ‘’We were having this amazing dinner, eating more than I think I've ever eaten in my entire life," she said. "I had no intention of eating dessert, and then he sent out this pie." Her next words: ‘’Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God…” Bill Smith was born in New Bern, NC, to a large extended family with Presbyterians on one side and Catholics on the other. The latter ate fish each Friday.And after a big meal of seafood, you didn’t eat dessert. Or if you did, it was lemon pie. He told Tom Maxwell in the Bitter Southerner in 2016:
And while Bill has dished out the South’s best shrimp and grits and was known for his honeysuckle sorbet made from hand-plucked honeysuckle, and has been a finalist twice for James Beard awards, he’s best known for this pie…and a big heart. ‘’North Carolina was a boomtown in the 1990s,’’ he said. ‘’It was crazy, but there was so much work that nobody would do. Kitchen work, washing dishes.’’ So Bill built a family of loyal workers from Mexico who showed up on time, learned all aspects of the kitchen and became more reliable than UNC college students. And he became so attached to his undocumented staff that when worries about deportation came up, with legal help he became guardian to 17 of their children born in North Carolina. His thinking was that if their parents were deported to Mexico, the children would not wind up in foster care. Today, these children range in age from 5 to 18. Bill retired from cooking in 2019. Since then Crook’s Corner has been under new ownership and closed due to Covid. Some of his staff have moved back to Mexico and welcome Bill there. Now he takes food tours to Oaxaca, a place that feels as much like home as his native North Carolina. “That Stupid Pie’’ & how to make itFlip through church cookbooks of the coastal South and along the East Coast, and you will find a lot of lemon pies. Many are like the Key Lime with an uncooked filling of sweetened condensed milk, lime or lemon juice, and eggs. A few might be the frozen icebox variety like my mother made. But the Atlantic Beach Pie is different. First of all, it’s cooked so you don’t have to worry about serving raw eggs. You separate the eggs, and the yolks go in a baked filling and the whites are saved for the baked meringue. Or at least, that’s how I make it. Bill says he tops the pie with whipped cream, which was easier to keep in the fridge at the restaurant and didn’t get weepy like a meringue does. And Bill calls Atlantic Beach Pie “That Stupid Pie” because after it got famous and everyone came into the restaurant asking for it, he could never take it off the menu. With such a short ingredient list the only decision to be made is what crackers go in the crust. I’ve made it with Ritz, with Saltines, and with a mix of both—all delicious. Bill believes Saltines are the way to go, but then, he’s a big Saltines fan. I am intrigued about those Captain’s Wafers…a little bit salty and a little bit sweet. This is one of those lemon pies that even if you have no intention of eating dessert, you still have room for a slice. Do you have a favorite summer lemon pie?Coming Thursday for Paid SubscribersMany thanks to Doug Mack for researching Saltines and crushed crackers, which were a big part of my childhood as my mother dipped vegetables in an egg wash and crumbed them before frying, and if she wanted to create a last-minute squash souffle, she’d just crumble Saltines into a pot of simmering yellow squash and onion, give it a pinch of pepper and a handful of shredded cheese, and voila! And thanks to Bill Smith for spending some time on the phone talking about the “That Stupid Pie.” To keep the Saltines theme going all week, I’ll be sharing two more Saltines recipes on Thursday for paid subscribers. One is a quick candy, and the other is a secret! If you’re not a paid subscriber, click the button below and join us. Have a great week! - xo, Anne THE RECIPE: Atlantic Beach PieI love this pie with a meringue, which is the authentic way to serve it, according to Bill Smith. And meringues are easy to do, so just follow the directions. You can spread the meringue all the way to the crust to seal it so it doesn’t shrink back in cooling. Or you can do as I like and spread it nearly to the crust, which allows you a peek inside the pie and that gorgeous filling. Use all lemon juice or a mixture of lemon and lime, and for a more intense citrus flavor, add the zest of one of the lemons to the filling. Makes 10 servings Prep: 30 to 35 minutes Bake: 37 to 46 minutes total time (crust, filling, meringue) Crust: 60 Saltine crackers, about 6 ounces or 1 1/2 sleeves 1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature 3 tablespoons sugar Filling: 4 large eggs, separated 1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice, from 4 to 5 lemons Meringue: 4 egg whites, reserved 1/4 cup sugar
Note: To serve the pie with whipped cream instead of a meringue, omit the last step. To bake a larger pie in a 12-inch cast-iron skillet: Double the filling and bake it 20 to 25 minutes, or until set. Use 5 egg whites and 1/2 cup sugar for the meringue. The crust stays the same. You’re on the free list for Anne Byrn: Between the Layers. If you’re liking what you’re reading, why don’t you become a paying subscriber for more recipes, stories, and content. |
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