Pecan Pie

Beneath a surface lined with pecan halves lies a smooth layer of eggs and syrup. Pecan pie is an American confection made by pouring a filling of pecans, eggs, sugar, butter, and other ingredients into a pie shell and baking it. It is one of the signature pies of the South and also appears on the Thanksgiving table. Corn syrup is commonly used today, but old cookbooks record a shift from milk custards to methods that use syrup.

An Indigenous word preserved in the name pecan

The pecan is a nut of the walnut family native to North America. The English word pecan is said to trace back, through the Mississippi Valley French pacane, to the Illinois word pakani. This Algonquian-family word is related to cracking hard nuts, and it preserves the path by which the language of the people who used the nut entered French and English. It is a history of the ingredient’s name that goes back further than the pie itself.

In Georgia, small-scale commercial cultivation began in the late 19th century, and orchards spread across the southwestern part of the state in the early 20th century. The nuts used in the pie came to reach people’s kitchens not only from wild trees but also through cultivation and distribution.

From regional cookbooks to a Thanksgiving staple

A culinary history study presented by the University of Southern Mississippi found printed pecan pie recipes (the proportions of ingredients and the method of preparation) in Harper’s Bazaar and Texas Siftings in 1886. Early versions included ones that made a custard with milk and eggs. A 1916 Texas recipe also combines milk with a syrup made from sugar.

Recipes with corn syrup appear in a 1928 cookbook from a Vicksburg garden club (1 example) and in a 1930 Greenville cookbook (2 examples). Karo’s own company timeline marks the 1930s as the period when “pecan pie was born,” but the pie had appeared in regional cookbooks before then. Karo promoted and popularized a recipe using corn syrup, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and nuts.

This home-baked pie also appeared again and again in Mississippi community cookbooks. In the University of Southern Mississippi’s cookbook study, it was the most common dessert among the recipes collected. With the ideas of home cooks and community groups combined with manufacturers’ advertising, it spread as a Southern dessert and a Thanksgiving pie. In 2013, it was designated the official state pie of Texas.

Its relationship to pies made with eggs and syrup

Pecan pie can be seen not only in relation to custard pies made with milk but also as part of a line of desserts whose fillings are bound with eggs, sugar, and fat, such as chess pie, sugar pie, and molasses pie. Adding pecans brings the crunch of the nut pieces and their thin skins to the smooth, sweet layer. The pie is thought to have taken its present form as cooks added nuts and syrups available at home to egg pies that already existed.

Chopped nuts mixed inside and halved nuts arranged on top

In this pie, rather than being ground into a meal, the nuts are used as pieces or halves that keep their form. Chopped nuts are scattered through the smooth filling, while the halves create a pattern on the surface and a substantial bite.

One method is to lightly roast the nuts that go inside beforehand and sprinkle them with a little salt. The nuts placed on top are also heated while the pie bakes, so the nuts inside and outside cook differently. Because oil-rich nuts burn easily, the pie is baked to a toasty finish while keeping an eye on both the interior and the surface.

Preparing the pie crust, then baking and cooling the egg filling

For the crust, cold fat is cut into the flour, and ice water is added a little at a time to bring the dough together. The dough, which still contains small lumps of fat, is chilled, rolled out, and fitted into the pan. Shaping the edge and chilling the crust again firms up the fat and keeps the dough from shrinking much during baking.

Some recipes blind-bake the shell before filling it. In King Arthur’s basic recipe, for example, the crust is lined with paper, weighted, and baked briefly, then the weights are removed and the crust is cooled. Eggs, dark and light corn syrup, sugar, melted butter, and vanilla are combined, chopped pecans are mixed in, and the filling is poured into the shell, with pecan halves arranged on top.

What sets the filling is not boiling the syrup down until it turns to candy but the heat-induced setting of the egg proteins. As the eggs set, the filling, which contains syrup and fat, is able to hold its shape. The crust is baked while the filling is cooked without setting it too firmly. In the main bake, the pie is cooked until the filling puffs and the center starts to set. As it cools, the center sinks slightly, and the filling, soft while hot, becomes firm enough to slice. It is a pie baked with an eye not only to its color but also to how the center wobbles and how it will set once cooled.

Methods using brown sugar, and small pecan tassies

Corn syrup is commonly used today, but the pie can also be made with other sugars. A method based mainly on brown sugar, with milk, eggs, and small amounts of flour and vinegar, uses no corn syrup. It keeps the arrangement of chopped nuts inside and halves on top, while the milk-containing filling gains the aroma of brown sugar.

Pecan tassies are a related confection that recreates the pie in a small size. An unsweetened dough of cream cheese, butter, and flour is formed into small cups, filled with brown sugar, eggs, butter, and nuts, and baked. Rather than simply shrinking the diameter, this version gives the shell itself the flavor and tenderness of cheese. Pecan pies with chocolate are also made.

The ratio of sugar to syrup, how the nuts are chopped, and whether the pie is served with ice cream or whipped cream all reflect household preferences. Whether you are cutting a large pie or picking up a single small tassie, the smooth egg layer and the nuts that crunch as you bite reach your mouth together.

Glossary