Assessing My Christmas 2019 Lemon Meringue Pie

I hadn't made a lemon meringue pie in, uh, lots of years. It tasted good, and looked mostly good before I started cutting into it. ("Wateriness" loomed large, which I'll discuss later.)

The driving force to make the pie was using up bottled lemon juice that I opened last month. (Used only 2 T with yellow cake batter for lemon cake variation.) During and after the pie project, pertinent thoughts popped up.

Lemon Juice Shelf Life

From "Does Lemon Juice Go Bad? Shelf Life & Expiration": "In the fridge, once opened, it can last up to six months."

Amount of Lemon Juice in a Lemon Meringue Pie

My main Google search term was “easy lemon meringue pie”. Most recipes I ran across called for 1/3 cup. One recipe that called for 1/2 cup of lemon juice was at allrecipes.com "Lemon Meringue Pie III". Pillsbury’s "Lemon Meringue Pie" also calls for ½ cup of lemon juice.

Pie Shell Type (Scratch, Frozen, Refrigerated, Graham Cracker Crust)

I bought ("Pillsbury™ Pet-Ritz™ Regular Pie Crusts". (Convenient that it supplied a recipe for lemon meringue pie.) Although I’d made pies last year with scratch crust, I wasn’t in the mood this time. Scratch ingredients are cheap, and you know what goes into the shells. However, scratch shells are labor-intensive. View “Cherry Pie—Section 2 of 3, Pie Dough Preparation”, which also includes a link to the blog article.

I chose frozen instead of refrigerated for handling convenience. The frozen shells come preformed with own pans. As for graham cracker pie crusts, I’d not considered them, but I know of recipes to make them. Furthermore, they are available pre-made with shell in baking aisles.

Lemon Pie Filling Complexities

I felt intimidated when recently reading the “pudding” process from several sources. Measurements, sequence of items, constant stirring, stovetop monitoring are crucial. I myself have used cornstarch-as-thickener process numerous time for many years, including past lemon meringue pies. After the process, I decided it wasn’t so difficult after all (again).

Cream of Tartar in Meringue

Meringue is mainly egg whites with loads of sugar and air. When it’s ready to use, it resembles shaving cream. Some recipes I ran across omit cream of tartar, some bakers advocate it wholeheartedly as a bubble stabilizer. Never heard of or used cream of tartar? "What Is Cream of Tartar—and What Can I Substitute for It?"states that it's "a byproduct of wine production, the residue left on the barrels".

From Foood52’s “For Perfectly Whipped Egg Whites (+ Lofty Meringues), Add a Little Pinch of This”

I use cream of tartar as a stabilizer in any recipe that calls for whipping egg whites, even when the recipe doesn’t call for it. I simply add 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar per cup of egg whites—or 1/4 teaspoon for every 4 egg whites—to the bowl with the egg whites before I begin whipping, and then proceed with the recipe as written. Some of my most respected colleagues use twice as much cream of tartar as I do, so you can choose how much to use.

Meringue Making

As a former newbie to meringue making, I was amazed at how much volume a few egg whites could expand to, with beating lots of air into them, and snowy white! It takes time! If you have a tilt-head mixer, that’s your friend to hold the beater up, and you need to add the sugar in spoonfuls for ensuring good sweetener distribution.

Several sites explain the process so you can see what ready meringue batches look like. Most bakers advocate spreading it onto poured pie filling while it’s warm or hot. At least one mentions a cool pie filling. They all stress spreading the meringue to the pie edge, totally sealing the filling.

Post-piebake Cooldown

Time ranges from one hour before cutting and serving to at least three. Some advice includes refrigeration. My lesson learned (sigh) is to be patient, wait long, and include a period of refrigeration before cutting. I had let it cool at room temperature for 2 ½ hours without refrigeration.

The Pillsbury frozen pie recipe states prep time of one hour, and total preparation time of five and a quarter hours. The cooling info says to cool completely; a subsequent sentence says to refrigerate about three hours, implying a room-temperature cooling time of 1 ¼ hours. Duh, I just noticed the online Pillsbury recipe "Lemon Meringue Pie" lists one hour for room temperature cooling.

"How to Cool & Serve Lemon Meringue Pie" provides explicit info for cooling and serving conditions.

Place the warm pie on a cooking rack for up to two hours. ... Refrigerate the pie for one hour if you prefer to serve it chilled. Make sure the pie has cooled to room temperature before refrigerating. Slice the pie in six or eight pieces with a sharp, thin-bladed knife. Make certain you cut all the way through the crust. If the lemon filling does not slice cleanly, you may need to cool your pie longer.

From delish.com's "Easy Lemon Meringue Pie"

The hardest part about this recipe is waiting for the custard filling to set. It takes a few hours and is 100% worth it if you're hoping to get a nice slice.

Cool completely, about 1 hour, then refrigerate until filling is set, 3 hours.

From once upon a chef's "Lemon Meringue Pie": "Let the pie cool completely on a rack before serving, about 3 hours."

Pie Wateriness, Weepiness, Sogginess

The initial wateriness was from the pie filling not setting fully—temperature and time. Served up two slices and spooned excess fluid. Refrigerated overnight; saw new excess fluid at cut area. Served up another two slices and spooned excess fluid. Third day, more of the same condition—new excess fluid at cut area. A few hours later, researched and found info about covering pie with foil or wrap. Did that, after I dabbed some already-developing fluid. Day four—success! Minimal excess fluid.

The useful info about covering pie came from "Food Storage - How long can you keep...LEMON MERINGUE PIE - BAKED"

Freshly baked lemon meringue pie will keep for about 2 to 3 days in the fridge; refrigerate covered loosely with aluminum foil or plastic wrap.

"How to keep meringue pies from getting soggy" reiterates cooldown and refrigeration timings.

Refrigeration makes meringue weep more quickly, so let the pie stand at room temperature in a draft-free spot before serving it. After a few hours, however, it will need to be refrigerated.

"Prevent Weeping Meringue" states "Weeping occurs as moisture begins to slowly seep out of the meringue layer and ruin both the look and therefore the appeal of this otherwise delightful creation."

Room for Improvement

A future pie by me is sure to be better with the following reminders, as long as I don’t forget or ignore other info I’ve written.

• The filling color was less yellowy than I expected. I used bottled lemon juice and skipped putting in peel (aka zest), as many other recipes call for. I did run across a few sites that mention using a few drops of yellow food coloring into the filling.
• The meringue was maybe too thin in a couple of areas near the crust edge. Next time I’ll be sure to slather the meringue and seal the edge thickly.
• With so much time for the pie to cool and set, consider the pie to be a 6-hour process. Definitely need ensure the baked pie is cool, at least an hour, then place it in the fridge for 3 ¼ hours.
• The overnight wateriness over three days surprised me. Each time after cutting into pie, I need to cover with plastic wrap, pressing out air from cut areas.

BTW, it's good that I used the Pillbury recipe rather than allrecipes one, which calls for a fourth egg and extra 1/3 cup of water. They would have overflowed the pie crust. The online Pillsbury pie recipe calls for refrigerated pie shell, but ingredients and process are the same.

Additional Helpful Sites

Food for the cool's "Lemon Meringue Pie & Tips for Beginners" has lengthy helpful info for beginners and remedials is a long read, but has gems worth noting. (I myself found the process more work than I'd want to do in the future.) One passage seems pretty important WRT filling temperature:

make sure your filling is piping hot, fresh from the saucepan, when you pour it into the shell and add the meringue!! The filling has to be hot because the steam will travel up through the egg whites and cook the meringue from the bottom. If the filling has cooled, when the pie goes in the oven, the heat will heat up the filling and the steam will get trapped between the filling and meringue, creating a watery layer that causes the top and filling to separate.

"highly recommend a stand mixer for this! If not, you can still beat it with a hand mixer, but your arm will be tired."

"Magic Lemon Meringue Pie | Food Network" is intriguing for ease and brevity. The pie crust is graham cracker crust. Video shows meringue consistency to emulate, which she makes before making the filling. The filling is condensed milk, egg yolks, and lemon juice. Interesting that the filling color is similar to mine--offwhite rather than yellowy.

"Easy Lemon Meringue Pie" shows an unusual filling. Best attraction is her showing the meringue consistency and spreading at the end.

"How to Keep a Lemon Meringue Pie From Getting Soggy" describes using a glass pie pan instead of metal. (I myself am unlikely to buy a glass pan before I try other suggestions.)

Use a glass pie plate for your lemon meringue pie. A pie baked in a glass plate will absorb heat from the oven faster, which makes the pie bake more quickly, making it firm and preventing it from getting too soggy from the filling.

Place the pie in the bottom half of the oven so that the pie crust is closer to the direct heat of the oven. The faster the pie crust cooks, the less chance there will be of having a soggy crust.