Lemon Meringue Pie

My sweetie loves things lemon. Lemon chicken, lemon and almond tart and now a new addition, Lemon Meringue Pie. Alton Brown of FoodTV recently made a lemon meringue pie.... my first attempt at making the crust and filling with his recipe were not satisfactory....a soggy crust and a soupy center.

First, let me recap the crust. Alton uses a combination of butter and lard. He also refrigerates the crust several times along the way. ( Note: This dude is a food geek and has some compelling scientific reasons for cooking food his way. We chatted at the recent House Wares Show at Chicago's McCormick Place. I mentioned that he appeared a little off the wall on his Food Channel cooking show... he replied "maybe more than a little".)

I like the combination of the butter and lard because of the flakier result in the crust. Alton's recipe calls for cooking the crust less than 25 min. at 375°F. I prefer to cook the crust for 40 to 45 min. at 400°F. Wash with egg & water and return to the oven for another 7 to 8 min.

Alton's crust recipe, except for baking time: Oven @ 400°F. Three ounces unsalted butter and one ounce chilled lard, cut into pieces. Place 1 cup of flour into food processor, add a pinch of salt and a pinch of sugar (Pinches are normally about ½ teaspoon). Add butter and pulse 5 to 6 times. Add lard and pulse another 3 to 4 times. Mixture should be somewhat granular. Remove lid and add about 3 to 4 Tbsp. ice cold water. Pulse again until mixture just comes together in the bowl.

Place on a floured surface and roll into a 10" to 11" circle. Place dough into a 9" pie plate. Puncture surface with a fork. Cover dough with parchment paper and fill with dough weights, such as beans. Bake for 35 to 40 min. Remove from oven and take the beans and paper out of the shell (save beans for next time). With an egg wash, brush the entire surface and bake for 7 to 8 min.

I adjusted his filling for the pie and used only 1/3 cup of lemon juice instead of 1/2 cup. The lesser amount of juice makes the filling a bit more solid... and it gives the pie the right amount of lemon flavor for me.

Click the title to view recipe.