Pecan pie is a pie of pecan nuts mixed with a filling of eggs, butter and sugar (typically corn syrup). Most pecan pie recipes include salt and vanilla as flavorings. Pecan pie may be served with whipped cream, vanilla ice cream or hard sauce.
Origin
Attempts to trace the dish's origin have not found any recipes dated earlier than a pecan custard pie recipe published in Harper's Bazaar in 1886. Pecan pie was made before the invention of corn syrup, and older recipes used darker sugar-based syrup or molasses. The 1929 congressional club cookbook has a recipe for the pie which used only eggs, milk, sugar and pecans. Well-known cookbooks such as Fannie Farmer and The Joy of Cooking did not include this dessert before 1940.
Pecans are native to the southern United States. Archaeological evidence found in Texas indicates that Native Americans used pecans more than 8,000 years ago. The word pecan is a derivative from the early 18th century of an Algonquin word, pakani, referring to a nut.
Sugar pies such as treacle tart were attested in medieval Europe, and adapted in North America to the ingredients available, resulting in such dishes as shoofly pie, sugar cream pie, butter tart and chess pie. Some Pecan pie recipes may be a variant of chess pie, which is made with a similar butter-sugar-egg plus the addition of milk or condensed milk to make a true custard.
Some have stated that the French invented pecan pie soon after settling in New Orleans, after being introduced to the pecan nut by the Native American Quinipissa and Tangipahoa tribes. Claims have also been made of pecan pie existing in the early 1800s in Alabama, but this does not appear to be supported by recipes or literature.
Pecan pie is a staple of the Southern U.S., and is often used in literary context as a symbol of the South; for example:
The Texas Legislature designated pecan pie as the official "State Pie of Texas" in 2013.
Variations
Alice Colombo's Race Day chocolate pecan pie
This pie is named after Alice Colombo, who was a food editor for the Louisville Courier-Journal in Kentucky. This pie was made by her on the occasion of the Kentucky Derby. The special ingredients suggested in the recipe include cornstarch, to soften the top, bourbon, chocolate chips and whipped cream. and was also shown in the movie Steel Magnolias. The origin of the name is unclear, but most recipes mention that "tassie" is the Scottish word for little cup or glass, and that in French a small cup is "la tasse."
Sawdust pie
Sawdust Pie consists of an egg-batter filling with coconut, graham cracker crumbs and pecans, topped with whipped cream and sliced bananas. This pie originated in the late 1800s from Patti's Restaurant in Grand Rivers, Kentucky. This pie can be served at room temperature or chilled, but when it is served at room temperature it looks transparent.
Whiskey chocolate chip
In this pie, chocolate chips and a few teaspoons of Jack Daniel whiskey are added.
See also
- Appalachian cuisine
- Walnut pie
- List of pies, tarts and flans
- List of Christmas dishes