Pecan pie Totally Explained

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Pecan pie is a sweet custard pie made primarily of corn syrup and pecan nuts. It is popularly served at holiday meals and is also considered a specialty of Southern U.S. cuisine. Most pecan pie recipes include salt and vanilla as flavorings. Other ingredients such as chocolate and bourbon whiskey are popular additions to the recipe. Pecan pie is often served with whipped cream.

New Orleans Pecan Pie

The tradition holds that the French created pecan pie soon after settling in New Orleans, after being introduced to the nut by Native Americans. It is sometimes referred to as "New Orleans pecan pie," adding an aura of French cuisine to a home-cooked comfort food. Attempts to trace the origin have, however, not found any recipes earlier than 1925, and well-known cookbooks such as Fannie Farmer and The Joy of Cooking didn't include it before 1940. (In any case, the process for refining corn sugar wasn't developed until the 1880s. Thus, the corn syrup which is considered an essential part of the modern recipe wasn't available to the settlers of New Orleans).
   There is no doubt that the makers of Karo syrup popularized the dish, and many recipes—even one ascribed to a well-known New Orleans restaurant—specify Karo syrup by name as an ingredient. This suggests a prosaic 20th-century origin in Karo promotion, and in fact the maker's website currently credits the dish as a 1930s "discovery" of a "new use for corn syrup" by a corporate sales executive's wife. The company asserts that "Down South, today, that same recipe continues to be called Karo Pie" but in fact this name for the dish seems to be rare.
   Although the standard recipes call for corn syrup, cookbook author Mark Bittman comments "There are two kinds of pecan pie, one of which contains not only sugar but corn syrup. I don't like this version—not only is it too sweet, if you taste corn syrup by itself you'll never cook with it again." The version he favors uses white and brown sugar, no corn syrup, and "thickens the sugar with eggs—in other words, it's a custard pie, loaded with pecans."
   Jim Turner of Glencoe, Alabama developed the recipe for making pecan pies with sorghum syrup. These pies are considered by some individuals to be of a higher quality than the ones made with corn syrup.

Quotations

Pecan pie is often mentioned in American literature (and television) as associated with Thanksgiving, Christmas and other special occasions; for example:
ť Tonight was the monthly meeting and potluck dinner of the Lost River Community Association... Frances had brought two covered dishes, one a green-bean casserole, the other a macaroni and cheese, and several desserts. Mildred, who had prepared fried chicken and a pork roast, heard the phone ringing, but ignored it... After another trip to the car for two cakes and three pecan pies, the phone was still ringing.

   :—Fannie Flagg, 2004 ť The only kitchen item I usually bring to Italy is plastic wrap... This time, however, I've brought one bag of Georgia pecans and a can of cane syrup, pecan pie being a necessary ingredient of Christmas.

   :—Frances Mayes, 1997 ť Dooley handed them a basket stuffed with fruit, nuts, candy, a tinned ham, and a pecan pie. "Merry Christmas!" he said.

   :—Jan Karon, 1996 ť Harry Burns: Repeat after me. Pepper.

   Sally Albright: Pepper. ť Harry Burns: Pepper.

   Sally Albright: Pepper. ť Harry Burns: Waiter, there's too much pepper on my paprikash.

   Sally Albright: Waiter, there's too much pepper on my paprikash. ť Harry Burns: But I'd be proud to partake of your pecan pie.

   :—Billy Crystal & Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally ť Trip Tucker: It may not be good for the body... But it sure is good for the soul.. Star Trek: Enterprise

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