Original Shaker Lemon Pie

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Nov 26, 2016
Location
central NC
512px-Shaker_lemon_pie.jpg
Shaker lemon pie
Cmadler [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Well you know Eleanor Rose couldn't visit the Shaker Village at Pleasant Hill without getting a recipe. Sadly the Shakers at Pleasant Hill, KY, didn’t write about what they ate, but Shaker Hill still maintains the original prolific vegetable gardens on the property and operates the Trustee's Table, a restaurant that serves the produce fashioned into recipes gleaned from Shaker communities around the country that did write their recipes down.

Among them, this lemon pie is best known. The original recipe has been served every day at Shaker Village since the place opened in 1967. Since lemons were historically a seasonal, hard-to-come-by treat, the pie was likely created after railroads started transporting them in the 1850s. Utilizing the entire lemon, this pie is a good illustration of the Shaker waste-nothing mentality. However, since it includes both the zest and pith of the fruit, the original recipe is extremely tart. You’ve really got to love lemons to love this pie.

Original Shaker Lemon Pie

Ingredients for Pie Crust (9-Inch, Double Crust):
  • 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 tsp pure cane sugar
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup very cold vegetable shortening or lard
  • 1/2 cup very cold unsalted butter
  • 5 Tbsp ice cold cream OR 1/2 and 1/2 OR canned evaporated milk OR whole milk
Ingredients for Filling For Original Shaker Lemon Pie:
  • 2 large lemons, washed and unpeeled
  • 4 large eggs
  • 2 cups sugar




Source: Lost Recipes Found
 
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What is a non-reactive bowl?

I guess it means made from something like porcelain or glass, a material that would not react with the citric acid from the lemons. The pie might get a metallic or plastic taste from other materials, like silver. I once served these stuffed olives with a silver spoon and at the end of the evening tiny bits of silver floated on the rest of the liquid that came with the olives. So a silver bowl probably would be wrong for making the filling.
 
I guess it means made from something like porcelain or glass, a material that would not react with the citric acid from the lemons. The pie might get a metallic or plastic taste from other materials, like silver. I once served these stuffed olives with a silver spoon and at the end of the evening tiny bits of silver floated on the rest of the liquid that came with the olives. So a silver bowl probably would be wrong for making the filling.
Thank you, FF!
 
Has anyone tried making this? I'm hoping someone has had success and can share some tips. I tried it a couple of years ago and my family flat out refused to eat it again. I'm trying to figure out what I did wrong
Could be that your family just don't like the egg taste. I must admit that I'm not much of a fan of too much eggs in a flan or pudding. I meant to ask if anyone thinks one or two eggs could be replaced by cream. The citric acid would instantly thicken the cream, so that the concoction would not be too runny...
 
No, they don't have an issue with the egg - it was the lemon slices that utterly turned them off. I keep wondering if I need to slice them thinner (I don't have a mandoline and had to do my best).
 
I've made this exact recipe - I have their book from when we visited. The key is super, incredibly thin lemon slices. I didn't get them thin enough. It didn't stop us from really liking it, but it's quite a chew if they aren't incredibly thin. Plus, quality lemons are a real plus with this I've found.
 
I like the idea, and I do have a mandolin. I wonder if it can be made crustless? Watching the carbs.

I think you could make it crustless or just a crust on the bottom. The crust helps offset some of the sweetness of the filling.
 
Since my fruit cocktail tree is dropping lemons by the tons, I need to try this!
I've never had this type of pie!
 
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