Thursday, March 26, 2015

Maysville's Transparent Pie

And no, you can't see through it.

I spent my early years in a small river town in northern Kentucky. Maysville is known as the home of Rosemary Clooney, her brother Nick Clooney, who just happens to be the father of a fellow named George, and Heather French Henry, known as Miss America 2000. It’s also the home of Transparent Pie.

I know what you’re thinking. Why is it transparent? Can you see through it? I’ve only heard that joke my entire life. You aren’t the only one who thought of it, and it ceased being funny sometime around 1967.

Anyway, this pie may have come about around the same time the state of Kentucky did since it’s an old frontier recipe designed to make use of the simple, sparse ingredients a pioneer family would have on hand. The oldest written recipe I found for it dates to around 1836 and calls for only three ingredients: butter, eggs, and sugar. The result is a thin, glossy confection that actually is nearly transparent when sliced into slivers.

As the times changed, the recipe appears to have changed as well. Those who could afford it added vanilla extract. A few recipes called for vinegar, while others called for cream. When the Depression was in full swing, the cream was swapped for evaporated milk.

For whatever reason, this rich, tasty pie is hardly known outside of the northern Kentucky area, even though that George Clooney fellow professes it to be his favorite and frequently orders some from Magee’s Bakery in Maysville. He has them shipped to his homes and movie locations, so he’s doing his best to champion it around the world.

I don’t believe the Magee’s recipe uses cream, but the recipe that has been handed down in my family does.

Fern Watson Fultz, my great-grandmother, gave this recipe to her daughter-in-law Lorene Fultz, who passed it to Shirley McCormick, my mother. It is now mine, and that makes me a fourth-generation pie baker, and I’m not ashamed to claim that title.

Without further ado, here it is.

Transparent Pie

Ingredients:
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, slightly melted
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1 cup cream (evaporated milk)
  • 4 eggs, beaten
  • 2 tablespoons flour
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 unbaked (9-inch) pie shells, NOT deep dish

Directions:

Beat butter and sugar in a mixing bowl. Add cream, and mix well. Beat in eggs. Stir in flour and vanilla. Pour into pie shells. Bake at 375 degrees for 40-45 minutes, or until golden brown and knife inserted in center comes out clean.








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