Making Lemon Meringue Pie
This is what you call a classic American lemon meringue pie: a light, frothy-sweet baked egg foam above, a tart and creamy curd filling below, all heaped up on a delicate crumb (or traditional) pie crust. Not much not to like here in my opinion. Indeed lemon meringue consistently ranks about fifth on the list of the America’s favorite pies. It would probably rank higher if more people made this pie at home, but its reputation for fussiness scares a lot of home bakers away.
That reputation is deserved to some extent. Under-baked meringue toppings often cause weeping, and are quite common as the very center of the pie is hard to fully heat without breaking the lemon custard (which causes another kind of weeping). Large pools of syrup are commonly found in pie plates, either upon cutting or the next day after any leftovers have had a chance to sit. The process below is designed to avoid that problem, and it works very well. However it is something of a dance, so I strongly encourage you to have all of your ingredients and component parts prepared and laid out on the counter before you begin. There’ll be much less confusion that way.
Ready? Then let’s begin. Start by preheating your oven to 350 and getting everything prepped and ready for the meringue. First order of business: the cornstarch goo that will serve as your meringue stabilizer. Combine the cornstarch and the water in a small saucepan over medium heat. Like my all-wood cooktop? It’s the latest thing.
Swizzle.
And when the mixture starts to clear and thicken, remove it from the heat. Set it aside to cool.
Now combine cream of tartar and sugar. Just a little whisking will do the trick.
Put your egg whites in the bowl of your mixer or in a whipping bowl. Yes, I know my copper egg bowl is covered with tarnish spots. I’m sure Martha Stewart’s is immaculate if you’d rather go over there. Sheesh!
With all that ready, prepare the lemon curd filling. Put the cornstarch, sugar and salt in a medium saucepan and stir them together.
Add the water and the lemon juice. Set that over medium heat and bring it to the boil.
Meanwhile, swizzle your yolks in a medium bowl. We’re about to make our curd.
Whisk the lemon juice mixture as it heats. When it starts to thicken and clarify, you know it’s time to combine it with your yolks.
Pour about half of it into the yolks to temper them (i.e. bring them gently up to temperature). Yep, it’s thick and goopy.
Whisk the mixture…
…then pour it from the bowl into the saucepan.
Set the saucepan back on the heat and whisk in the butter and lemon zest. Whisk until the thick mixture starts to boil: plop, plop, plop.
Remove it from the heat right away to prevent curdling, then set a piece of plastic wrap on top to prevent a skin from forming.
Tired yet? We’re almost at the finish line. All we need to do is whip up our meringue. Whip the whites until they’re good and frothy, then add the sugar mixture in a heavy stream…more or less all at once. The early addition of the sugar will yield a slightly denser and more stable meringue.
It’ll take almost a full minute to get to soft peaks because sugared whites take on air more slowly, but you’ll get there. When you get peaks that are tall yet still flop over — see below — add the cornstarch goo stabilizer…
…and whip another 20 seconds or so to stiff peaks.
Now to assemble. You want the filling hot for this, so depending on how long you took to whip up the meringue, you might want to give the filing another shot of heat. Remove the plastic wrap and return it to the burner until…plop plop…it starts boiling again. Whisk it as it boils for about five seconds then pour it into the shell. Hmm…this pie plate says “pumpkin” to me more than “lemon”…where IS that Martha when I need her?
Give it a quick level with a spatula…
…then dump on the meringue all at once and promptly spread it around, all the way out to the crust edges. Use broad strokes to spread it evenly and give it a little decorative swirl if you’re so inclined (I wasn’t).
Get it straight away into the preheated oven and bake it for 20 minutes until it looks about like this:
There now, that wasn’t so hectic, was it? Allow the pie to cool completely — at least two hours — before you serve it because the custard needs time to set up. The first piece or two will be a little sloppy, but after that they should hold their shape nicely.
So what about the weeping problem? Well, because this procedure is designed to heat the middle and cook it before it even goes into the oven, you should have little to worry about. The cornstarch goo stabilizer also does a great job of maintaining the integrity of the meringue without compromising the flavor or texture. Here’s what my pan looked like after the leftovers sat in the fridge overnight:
A single drop of syrup at the very tip there. Close enough for jazz, as they say. Of course any meringue pie is best on the day it’s made, but I was surprised at how well this help up in the fridge. The curd had mellowed a bit as well. Now that’s what I call breakfast!
This looks wonderful, Joe! Can’t wait to try it. One of my first baking projects when I was very young was a lemon meringue pie. At about 10 I was already the family baker and decided to try this and was completely distraught when I ended up with scrambled eggs in my lemon filling! It did not completely discourage me as I’ve been baking ever since, but I certainly learned my lesson about tempering, although I never figured out how to stop the weeping. Your method for weep-less pumpkin pie works perfectly, so I know this will also.
Thanks for your confidence, Linda! 😉
Let me know if you try this as I’ll be curious what you think!
Have a great weekend,
– Joe
Ooohhhh, you are a man after my own heart – leftover lemon meringue pie for breakfast! I’m saving your recipe for when my kitchen remodel is done (in about a month) and will make me one. This is what I request instead of birthday cake. I always told friends, “There’s two things I don’t share: my man and my lemon meringue pie.”
Is there any great joy than coming downstairs in the morning and finding pie in the kitchen? Right now I can’t think of one, and all my pie is gone. Oh, woe is me!
Thanks, Cactus!
– Joe
Ahhhh, pie for breakfast! It’s always been the “breakfast of champions” in my house!
Ain’t it the truth! I wish I hadn’t eaten all mine!!
Cheers,
– Joe
Lemon meringue is hands down my favorite pie. I’ve made it many times, of course, but there always seems to be something that goes a little wrong. Last time my meringue was AWFUL; I have no idea what I did. Thanks for explaining the why behind each step–it greatly appeals to my analytic mind, and next time I make this I’m sure it’s going to be helpful!
Never heard of the cooking term “swizzle”!!! Like when I use to tell my kids to smoosh the ingredients together. Or to just “jiggle” the biscuit cutter when cutting out biscuits. Don’t twist it or it seals the sides of the biscuit and they won’t rise as much. Silly cooking terms I’d make up to get the point over to them. 🙂 🙂 🙂
I miss those days, I’ve been retired 5 years now. A co-worker of mine asked me to demo how to make fried rice and how to make pizza dough.We ended up making 18 pizzas, and enough fried rice for 75 kids in her 3 classes. Donna’s classroom, use to be my old classroom for 32 years. It was kinda hard to get up,be in class at 7:18 in the morning for 4 days, but I enjoyed it.
Isn’t it fun to teach people about food? I can totally relate, Barbara. And yes, “swizzle” is a technical term I picked up a few years ago in a lab somewhere. 😉
Cheers,
– Joe
Oh, I forgot to say, now I want a piece of Lemon Meringue Pie!!!
Make one — you’ll be pleased I promise!
– Joe
If you ever decide that tarnish spots on copper bother you, try the old remedy of a wipe-down with tomato juice. It worked on my mom’s 1950s “copper-bottom” saucepans.
I’m going to do that today, Sally, as I’m making a whole lot of pizza and I’ll have some juice leftover from the cans. Thanks!
– Joe
Just in time for my mother-in-law’s birthday! This is her favorite pie, and she specifically requested it for her birthday. I was just complaining to my husband about how I never see lemon meringue pies for sale where I live, and how finicky it is to bake…now I have no excuse…
Let me know how it turns out, Justine!
Cheers,
– Joe
oooh that is a photo of the perfect lemon-meringue pie. I have had a couple of bad experiences with this dessert but you inspire me to have another attempt. Thanks.
Amen! And let me know how it goes!
– Joe
I’m pretty convinced that I want to make this pie as soon as possible, but with only two adults and two toddlers around to eat it, would the Law of Diminishing Quality of Baked Goods kick in before we could reasonably finish eating the whole thing?
Hey Elizabeth!
I was surprised at how well this kept for 3 days. The filling mellowed very pleasantly indeed. So I think you’re good! There are also always neighbors! 😉
– Joe
Sold!
One lemon meringue pie — sold to the pretty lady in the back!
This looks amazing! Definitely going on my must-make list for summer desserts.
Let me know hoe it turns out, Lena!
– Joe
Awesomeness. I think I know what I’m making for dessert this Friday… 😉 Thanks!
Thanks! Let me know how it goes, Rach!
– Joe
Thank you, Joe, for doing this pie. I haven’t made one of these since I was a teenager, and it wept! With these new tips, I’ll definitely try it again soon. I still have a freezer full of meyer lemon juice cubes.
Let me know how it goes, Suzanne!
– Joe