Nauvoo Rhubarb Cream Pie

The last of this summer's rhubarb crop has been burning a hole in my pocket (okay, the freezer) for quite a while now. I was happy to stumble upon a recipe during my weekly search that would finish it off, hopefully in high style.

I have had the Pie of the Month Club site bookmarked for a long time, but hadn't made it around to actually making one from their archives. There are a bounty of strange pies to be found there: beet, vinegar, prune, sauerkraut? But, the Nauvoo Rhubarb Cream was about as exotic as I thought I was up for this week.

If you are interested -- I guess that I was, at least enough to gather some minimal information -- Nauvoo, Illinois has a fascinating history, including elements of Mormon history (which I was aware of) and the Icarians (of whom I knew nothing). For the purposes of this blog, the most important contribution of the Icarians is introducing rhubarb to the Midwest. For all other purposes, there are many elements of far greater import.

Of course, this is supposed to be about pie, not mediocre historical research on Google and Wikipedia. So here it is...

Rhubarb Cream Pie.

I made it. I served it. I ate it. And, I am still not exactly sure what to say about it. I'll start by openly wondering what about it caused someone to call it a cream pie. Relative to what that designation connotes, at least in the pie world, it pales. I will simply say that it was interesting. And strange. And, I will not be making it again. Reviews were mixed, including an emphatic thumbs down on the home front (not the high style I was hoping for). With a now long list of pies, including some actual successes -- even success with rhubarb -- I don't see why this one would leave my own archives any time soon.