Buttermilk Pie
Pie making is my kryptonite. Well, let me clarify, custard and fruit pies are my kryptonite; I can make a mean sweet potato and pecan pie.
As a Southern gal, you would think pies were a staple but my family has always been about the cakes: chocolate pound cake, pound cake, butternut cake, red velvet cake, german chocolate cake; I could go on. The only pie I remember growing up was sweet potato. To grow my baking skills and do research for my culinary mystery fiction novel, I decided I would tackle making pies. One of my characters is known as the Pie Queen of Peaville so I have to do her justice.
The first pie in this skill/research test is the buttermilk pie. It sounds disgusting, I know. When I came across it, my first thought was, “who wants a sour milk pie?” However, the pie is Southern and relatively easy to make. It is known as a desperation pie. These pies became popular during times of war and food shortages. As we are currently dealing with supply chain issues, we might be getting back to these types of pies soon.
When traveling the backroads of Alabama, you can find a few restaurants that serve this pie. One of these restaurants is the Stagecoach Cafe, in the gulf coast city of Stockton, Alabama.
Buttermilk is a well known southern staple in the kitchen. There is a debate about what is real buttermilk: cultured or uncultured; excess from making butter or made from skim or whole milk; to me, it’s all the same. I tend to keep powdered buttermilk around because I never use a half gallon of buttermilk. However, recently I’ve been making my own. Just add 1 tablespoon of vinegar to 1 cup of milk and let sit for 5 minutes. Boom! Buttermilk. I will say that it doesn’t look good as it is not as smooth.
Before I made this pie, I lost my sense of taste and smell. When baking, I always taste everything so it was a huge adjustment for me. Also, the smell of the pie baking is a smell you just don’t want to miss. I had to rely on my significant other to taste for me. It seemed that the pie was a little too sweet. I could tell by looking at the amount of sugar that that was probably the case. As someone who bakes and cooks a lot, losing taste and smell is the worst but that means more tasting for the fam.
Enough background, let’s get into the recipe. I wanted to find a pie that is made during the winter. I found this website, Insanely Good Recipes, that had a list of 30 something pies to make in the chilly months. I had never had a buttermilk pie before and it seemed fairly easy to make so I said, why not.
It was not easy. There were many mistakes I made:
I overfilled the pie pan so it came out looking mad ugly.
The buttermilk was a whole mess and would not incorporate into the mix. It did not look appetizing.
It was waaaaay too sweet.
I did not melt the butter so a girl was struggling with creaming it together.
Even though I made all of those mistakes, it tasted good. My honey ate all of it.
I hope y’alls comes out better than mine but either way, it will be delicious.
Note the photo, that’s my ugly looking pie.
Tag ya girl when you make this in your kitchen.
Thanks for joining me in the kitchen. I’ll see y’all again next week.
Xoxo~Christilisa