This Basic Southern Lemon Pie Will get Crunch—and Appeal—From a Saltine Crust

Citrus desserts are wildly standard, but they nonetheless handle to spark fierce debate—complete Reddit threads are dedicated to folks airing their grievances in regards to the tart sweets. For followers, although, that shiny, puckery punch is strictly the purpose. One standout within the citrus dessert canon is Invoice Smith’s Atlantic Seaside pie, a lemon custard pie with a saltine cracker crust that is earned a loyal following.

Alongside the North Carolina coast, many seafood eating places serve some model of “lemon pie,” however Invoice Smith’s take—developed at Criminal’s Nook, a landmark Southern restaurant in Chapel Hill recognized for its regional classics and creative takes on heirloom dishes—has achieved outsized reputation. Initially created for a Southern Foodways Alliance subject journey by means of japanese North Carolina in June 2012, the pie gained nationwide consideration after Katie Workman raved about it on NPR’s All Issues Thought-about in April 2013. The famed pie remained on the menu till the restaurant closed in the summertime of 2021.

“Once we have been rising up, we have been informed that you just shouldn’t have desserts after seafood since you’d be sick,” Smith informed Tom Maxwell in |an in-depth interview with Tom Maxwell for The Bitter Southerner. “You simply believed it as a result of your grandmother informed you. We have been Catholic, so we had seafood each Friday, so we by no means had any dessert. The one exception was citrus. You might have lemon, so all of the eating places—this was like a folkloric factor all alongside japanese North Carolina—all of the seafood eating places alongside the coast had these lemon pies as a result of that was okay to eat. They various from place to put, however they’d a cracker crust.”

Invoice Smith’s Atlantic Seaside Pie

For Smith’s pie, a shiny, stir-together custard bakes in a crust constructed from crushed saltine crackers, layered with whipped cream, and sprinkled with flaky salt. It balances candy, salty, and tart components with exceptional ease. Practically each web recipe for this pie is a near-exact duplicate of Smith’s: saltine cracker crust, 4 egg yolks, one can of sweetened condensed milk, and half a cup of lemon or lime juice (or a mixture of each), all topped with whipped cream. And rightly so—this “silly pie” (his phrases, not mine) is among the greatest and best pies I’ve ever made. 

However Smith’s personal cookbook, Seasoned within the South, encompasses a barely completely different model, with a selfmade egg yolk custard baked in a Ritz cracker crust and topped with meringue constructed from the reserved whites. That distinction raises questions: Why the shift? Was the viral model a simplification? And what’s with the completely different crackers?

All Concerning the Cracker Crust

The standout function of this recipe is its crisp, salty cracker crust. Whereas crackers had lengthy appeared in pies—most notably in mock apple pies courting again to the Nineteenth century—the concept of utilizing them for crusts didn’t take maintain till the mid-Twentieth century. Through the Nice Despair and World Conflict II, Ritz crackers gained reputation as a resourceful substitute for apples, their buttery texture approximating cooked fruit when softened in lemon-vanilla syrup.

As meals author John T. Edge explains in Apple Pie: An American Story, the cracker-filled model was “one thing enjoyable and quirky,” its substitution “a cheeky delight” moderately than purely an indication of shortage. Recipes for mock apple pie appeared in Nineteenth-century Southern cookbooks like What Mrs. Fisher Is aware of About Previous Southern Cooking and The Accomplice Receipt Guide, and by 1934, Nabisco started printing a model on Ritz containers—a apply that continued into the early Nineties. As comfort meals rose in reputation, so did the concept of crusts designed not simply to include a filling, however to enrich it. By the Fifties, newspaper recipes have been touting saltine pie shells crammed with chiffon or cream fillings, with headlines declaring, “There Is No Dough in These Pie Crusts.”

Invoice Smith explains in his Bitter Southerner interview: “Some folks used Captain’s Wafers. Some folks used saltines. Some folks used Ritz crackers. It was a tug-of-war about what was the very best.” This selection exhibits up even in Smith’s personal variations of the recipe—when he first developed the pie, he used saltines, however in his cookbook, he opted for Ritz crackers. Probably the most broadly shared model of the recipe right now displays the unique saltines-based crust.

I stayed near pie’s origin, utilizing saltine crackers for his or her distinct salty edge, which sharpens the tartness of the lemon curd moderately than dulling it. Crumbling the saltines by hand in a bowl proved simply as efficient as utilizing a meals processor—with much less cleanup. After mixing in melted butter and sugar (additionally by hand, which helped break up any lingering chunks), the combination resembled a coarser graham cracker crust. I pressed it right into a steel pie plate to type a thick, even crust and baked it till it was golden brown.

For an Even Higher Filling, Do not Separate the Eggs

As for the filling, Atlantic Seaside pie takes a barely completely different path from lemon meringue pie. Whereas the custard in lemon meringue pie is historically thickened with egg yolks (reserving the whites for the topping), this pie nods to its Southern cousin, key lime pie, which depends on a special pantry staple: sweetened condensed milk. This ingredient combines sugar and dairy in a single, and when blended with egg yolks and citrus juice, the acidity helps denature the proteins within the eggs and set the filling—no tempering required. Right here, lemon juice replaces lime, and to make sure the custard slices cleanly, the pie will get a short bake earlier than chilling.

I made a decision to make use of complete eggs within the filling, which resulted in a lighter, firmer texture; utilizing solely yolks produced a richer however looser custard. The egg whites deliver further protein for the milk to bind to, serving to the filling set extra firmly. To offset the lack of fats—yolks add richness and taste—I supplemented with a little bit heavy cream, figuring out I might use extra of it for the topping.

To reinforce the lemon taste with out making the pie too bitter, I added a beneficiant one tablespoon of lemon zest to the filling. The custard goes immediately into the ready crust—no want to chill it first—then the pie is baked simply till the sides are set and the middle nonetheless wobbles barely. It’ll proceed to agency up absolutely because it cools.

The Billowy Topping

At Criminal’s Nook, Smith topped his pie with contemporary whipped cream. I used to be impressed to do the identical. Not needing to order egg whites for a meringue topping is what first prompted me to check a model of the filling made with complete eggs within the first place. As an additional advantage, since meringues are inclined to weep over time, making the filling watery and the crust soggy, a easy whipped cream topping eliminates this downside. Actually, whipped cream might be unfold on the pie a day or two forward. Though I want to high it simply earlier than serving to protect the dramatic look of the cloud-like cream. 

To complete the pie, a sprinkle of flaky sea salt ties the entire pie again to the salty cracker crust and pays homage to the contemporary salt air from the Atlantic Ocean. For all of the lemon heads on the market, this model of Atlantic Seaside pie is the type of dessert you may rave about to mates. Tart and creamy, with a saltine cracker crust that is certain to spark dialog—it is positive to go away an enduring impression.

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