Clementine Meringue Pie

Who has ever heard of Clementine Meringue Pie?  Well, be assured that I spent plenty of time searching the entire internet (even the dark, hidden parts) and did not find many references to a clementine pie.  Perhaps the results from my weekly pie experiment should indicate the reason for this lack of information.  All in all, it was a reasonably interesting week.  I got to try a couple of new things, and continue to refine some that are becoming near second nature.  Most importantly, perhaps, I managed to give away the entire pie without having to eat any myself.  I did, however, get an opportunity to taste the finished product (sans crust), so I still consider myself knowledgeable enough to include it in the rankings.

Following the usual pattern...

Crust

After last week's didn't turn out quite as nicely as I wanted, I regressed back to the usual standard recipe.  I suppose that I'll continue to experiment as time goes on, but I really was just looking for a good result this week and knew that if I didn't do anything stupid, I could always trust the old reliable.

Recipe

As alluded to above, I did some real searching for a clementine pie and didn't really find much specifically about clementines.  I did find a reference or two that implied that clementines are a type of tangerine (not sure if that's true, and amazingly I'm just going to let that go and not spend the next twenty-four sleepless hours researching clementinian origins).  As a result of that potential revelation, I narrowed down to this recipe for tangerine pie.  I did manage to find a few reviews of clementine/tangerine and orange pies that discussed the sweetness of said pies.  In particular, I took a cue from this orange pie recipe to include additional sour juice (lemon in the case of the recipe, lemon and lime in my case) to the mix.

Filling

Does anyone want to hazard a guess as to how many clementines it takes to yield one cup of freshly squeezed juice?  Me neither, but I can tell you that the total number might surprise you.  It did me, whatever it was.  I split up my pie making efforts this weekend into three phases because I am so very organized

• crust, which I made in the morning -- and pre-baked in the early afternoon
  
• citrus squeezing (this was a glorious mess -- I regret not having taken a picture of the cup of clementine juice in particular; it is an exquisite color), and 
  
• filling preparation/meringue making.
  

I ended up using the juice from a lemon (about four tablespoons), plus some lime juice from some key limes that were laying around -- still from the Key Lime Pie, I think.  Those amounted to another two tablespoons or so.  Obviously I exceeded the recommended two tablespoons total that were in the recipe, but given some of what I had read I figured what the heck; I didn't want the end result to be too sweet anyway.  

Other than the modification with the amount of sour juice, the filling went pretty much to form.  I did not put the sectioned clementines at the bottom of the pie, as is mentioned in the recipe.  That was out of pure, unadulterated laziness.  I didn't feel like it, so shoot me!  

The use of corn starch as the thickening agent was new (I think... the weeks are starting to meld into one long mass of new experiences), but did not turn out to be an issue one way or another.  The ingredients thickened up like the recipe said, yada, yada, yada.  There was meringue on the butterscotch pie from week #1 (wow, does that feel like a long time ago), but I didn't make it, since I had a sous chef way back then.  She, however, is no longer with the team and so this time I got to do it.  I was really, really tempted to try it by hand, what with my fascination with whipping cream the old fashioned way.  But, alas, I chickened out and used the hand mixer.  Maybe another time.  The meringue, too, went well.  I'm not sure how the experts get it to look decent on the pie, what with all the curliques, etc.  I did my best but make no claims of artistry.

With the additional juice that I added, and a slightly shrunken crust, there was an abundance of filling and meringue, so I ended up filling a couple of ramekins part way with the clementine filling, the rest of the way with meringue, and then baking those along with the full-blown pie.

Here's a picture of the finished product

My complaints visually were that

1. the crust shrunk quite a bit during the baking.  I used my pie weights, and they did their job, but I didn't fold over enough dough around the edges, and
   
2. this didn't happen until after this picture was taken, but over time the meringue pulled back from the edges of the pie and either the meringue or the filling "wept" so there was a miscellaneous liquid layer between the two.  Any ideas, bakers out there?
   

Eating

I'm proud to say that I gave away this whole pie at work and no one spit any of it out in my presence -- how's that for a qualifying statement?  Actually, most seemed to enjoy it.

Anonymous, derogatory blog comments will be recognized and investigated to the full extent of my powers.  Keep that in mind those who spit it out behind my back.  

My experience eating this pie was only the small ramekins of "pie" that were separate from the real thing.  I liked it, although I really thought (as did the senior principle tester) that it tasted very much like lemon meringue.  The comments from the menagerie at work tended to be that the clementine was a distinct flavor, but that it was most evident either upon first bite, or as an aftertaste.  Perhaps the full pie experience was necessary to get the complete taste.  I can live without it for the opportunity to offload the eating of some of this pie, even if it is only for a week.

Here's a professionally crafted photo from work

photo by jjames, courtesy jpederson, enterprises.

Next week is taste tester number one's birthday, and so she will be receiving a lump of coal and her favorite pie from yours truly.  I might have to make a dozen of them, but this one has to turn out right.  Believe me, you do not want to be on her bad side.

I still haven't gotten around to locating a decent ordered/numbered list for the pie rankings.  Apparently you can make your own widgets, and there is a rumor afoot that this is what I do for a living, so I suppose I could just build my own quick.  On the other hand, I am invariably lazy and that almost always takes precedence.  Either way, I'll have something better available soon.

-20 degrees forecast for tonight here in the balmy Twin Cities.  Enjoy the beautiful weather wherever you are!