Grandma's Sour Cream Raisin Pie -Cooking with Andrea

Andrea's Sour Cream Raisin Pie with Brown Sugar Meringue!

Andrea chose to make Grandma's Sour Cream Raisin Pie.  It was a favorite childhood memory of hers when visiting her grandparents on their farm.   Andrea remembered eating it and "just wanted to eat it more!"

This recipe came from allrecipes.com, submitted by Susan.  It was a very good version of the pie she remembered eating as a child.  The filling for this pie is thick and creamy.  It is loaded with raisins and sour cream.  There is a hint of nutmeg that lingers in the background of your mouth when you taste this pie.  

And, I have never eaten brown sugar meringue until now.  It is exceptional.  Once you try it, you won't go back to the traditional granulated sugar meringue.  It tastes slightly sweet and looks delicately brown.  It makes a very beautiful presentation.

Grandpa and Grandma at a Plowing Match

Andrea ready to give Uncle Doug a cooking lesson on how to make Sour Cream Raisin Pie.

Ingredients:

• 1 (9 inch) pie crust, baked
• 4 1/2 teaspoons corn starch
• 1 1/8 cups white sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 1/2 cups sour cream
• 3 egg yolks, beaten
• 1 1/2 cups raisins
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 3 egg whites
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 6 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Prepare the pie crust.  This recipe calls for a baked pie crust.  We used a 9" deep-dish frozen pie shell.  It is just the perfect size for the above measurements for this filling. Not every pie you make requires the filling to be cooked in the oven along with the pie crust.  In this case, we pre-baked or "blind-baked" the crust so that it is cooked before we added the filling.  This prevents the crust from becoming soggy.  

Uncle Doug demonstrates how to "blind-bake" a pie crust.

Thaw the pie crust.
Pat the crust together if there are any tears or imperfections in the crust.

Andrea started to prick a few holes in the bottom of the crust.
This is called "docking."  We used the method called "blind-baking. "

Line the dough with parchment paper.

Then fill the crust with "weights."   They are easy to use.
We used dried beans to hold the shape during baking.
  (You can also use uncooked rice.)  
The beans can be stored in a container for use another time.
Without the weight of a filling, the baking crust can shrink, fill with air pockets,
and puff up with bubbles.
Bake until browned at 425 degrees for 15 minutes.
The initial high heat will force much of the steam out,
helping the crust to become flaky.

Remove pan from oven.
Gently remove your pie weights.

Reduce oven to 375 degrees and continue baking until golden brown
and the bottom of the pie crust is not soggy or wet, about 5 minutes.

Preparing the filling:

Gather the ingredients.

Measure 4 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch and add to medium saucepan.

Add 1 1/8 cups white sugar to pan.

Add 1/4 teaspoon salt.

Uncle Doug is keeping the work station clean and picked up.

Measure 3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg.

Whisk ingredients together and set aside.

Andrea is giving a demonstration on how to separate  
egg yolks from the whites,
or
Cooking Class: Playing With Your Food 101

Crack egg and rest yolk in half of the cracked shell.

Cradle yolk in your hand, resting on your fingers.

Let the white of the egg fall into a separate mixing bowl.
The meringue will be made from the whites.

Put the yolk into another small bowl.

Continue with the other two eggs.

The 3 egg yolks will be in a separate bowl.
The filling will be made with the yolks.

Cooking with your hands requires a lot of hand washing.

Beat the egg yolks and set aside.

To the sauce pan add 1 1/2 cups sour cream.

Stir with the whisk.

Measure 1 1/2 cups raisins.

Roll fresh lemon to release the juice.

Use fresh lemons whenever possible.
You can see the flavor and freshness.

Squeeze 1 tablespoon lemon juice.

Add juice to the beaten egg yolk.

Add egg mixture to sauce pan.

Stir in raisins.

Stir until thoroughly combined.

Cook mixture over medium heat.

Stir constantly.

Andrea said she could smell the flavors changing as the mixture cooked.

Doug is paying attention to his teacher, so he can duplicate this after she returns home.
Pay close attention, Grasshopper.

This step takes a long time, and cooking can make you hungry.

Be patient, Grasshopper.  Cooking over medium heat takes a while.
Keep cooking until the mixture thickens and boils.

Stir and boil 1 minute.

Pour mixture into pastry shell.

Taste test.

"Oh, yeah, that turned out!"

This is grandma's enamel pie pan that traveled with her from South Dakota
when she was first married.

Set aside the pie while making the meringue topping.


MERINGUE

A foam of beaten egg white and sugar. Egg foams were used in pastries much earlier, but the name meringue came from a pastry chef named Gasparini in the Swiss town of Merhrinyghen. In 1720, he created a small pastry of dried egg foam and sugar from which the simplified meringue evolved. Its fame spread and Marie Antoinette is said to have prepared the sweet with her own hands at the Trianon in France.

The most critical factor in making meringue is humidity. Because of its high sugar content, meringue can absorb moisture from the air and become limp and sticky. For best results, make meringue on a bright, dry day.

Be sure that beaters and bowls are clean and completely free of fat or oil because the least bit of fat will prevent beaten egg whites from reaching their full volume. Use only metal or glass bowls. Plastic bowls tend to absorb fat.

After separating eggs, allow the whites to stand at room temperature about 30 minutes before beating so they will reach their fullest volume.
from  How to Make Meringue epicurean.com


Brown Sugar Meringue

Gather ingredients.

Add 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar to the egg whites in the metal mixing bowl.

Beat until foamy.

Add brown sugar 1 tablespoon at a time.

Beat until whites are stiff and glossy.

Add the rest of the brown sugar 1 tablespoon at a time.
Beat the sugar until completely dissolved, or it will be gritty.

Scrape down the sides of the bowl, so all is well mixed.

Beat in 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract.

Peaks will be stiff and glossy.

Spread meringue evenly over the raisin filling.

Push over the entire surface of the pie to the edges of the pan.

Press the meringue against the inside of the crust into the corner where
the crust meets the pie filling.  Push the meringue on top of the edge of the
pie crust.  This needs to be done all the way around the pie to make a seal.
The meringue will weep and separate from the crust and leave an ugly,
liquid-filled gap between the topping and edge if it is not sealed.

Use the spatula to make peaks with the meringue.

Pie topped with billows of meringue.

Bake in preheated 400 degree oven for 10 minutes.

Meringue will be delicately brown, with feathery peaks that melt in your mouth.

When the pie came out of the oven,
the musical clock chimed in the background one of Vivaldi's Four Seasons.
Perfect!

Let pie cool.

Cutting and serving the pie for the family Labor Day dinner.

 This looks and tastes like it is supposed to.
Enjoy!

A Little Family History

This is a trophy Grandpa won at a Plowing Match.
Founders Trophy
1957 Champion Iowa Plowman
by Radio Station # 80.

Grandpa also won the Founders Trophy Award 
by
Radio Station WHO
Reserve Champion Plowman 
1966 Iowa Plowing Matches

The Family Farm.

A plow is a tool used in farming for cultivation of soil.  It is used to turn over the upper layer of soil, bringing fresh nutrients to the surface, while burying weeds and the remains of previous crops.
In the 1950's and 1960's Grandpa entered the plowing competitions and was very successful in many of them and won many trophies.

Plough

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Horse-drawn, two-furrow plough.

Early steel ploughs, like those for thousands of years prior, were walking ploughs, directed by the ploughman holding onto handles on either side of the plough. The steel ploughs were so much easier to draw through the soil that the constant adjustments of the blade to react to roots or clods was no longer necessary, as the plough could easily cut through them. Consequently it was not long after that the first riding ploughs appeared. On these, wheels kept the plough at an adjustable level above the ground, while the ploughman sat on a seat where he would have earlier walked. Direction was now controlled mostly through the draught team, with levers allowing fine adjustments. This led very quickly to riding ploughs with multiple mouldboards, dramatically increasing ploughing performance.

A modern John Deere 8110 Farm Tractor using a chisel plough. The ploughing tines are at the rear; the refuse-cutting coulters at the front. 

NATIONAL PLOWING CONTESTS

FRANK J. BURRIS
January/February 1961

Actually, these contests are more than simple plowing events, for they reveal the results of studies by the U. S. Dept. of Agriculture and many other agencies in an effort to combat soil erosion and loss of fertility because of non-rotation of crops, non-replenishment of various soil elements through rest, cover crops, etc.

'Plowtown, U.S.A.' stems from its beginning in a regional contest first held in 1939 by Herb Plambeck, farm service director of radio station WHO in Des Moines, Iowa. The sequence was interrupted by World War II but was resumed when it became linked with national soil conservation conferences in 1946. The event is now staged under the auspices of the National Association of Soil Conservation Districts, representing 2900 conservation districts throughout the United States, with headquarters in Washington, D. C.

Read more: http://steamtraction.farmcollector.com/Farm-Shows/NATIONAL-PLOWING-CONTESTS.aspx#ixzz264LIXH2v