Pear Pie Recipe – Vintage
Posted by Warren
Makes one 9-inch pie, double crust, fruit filling
The Frugal Housewife, by Susannah Carter, 1803
A double crust pear pie with an old fashioned twist covered with a spiced custard.
Pear Pie Recipe
The Frugal Housewife, by Susannah Carter, 1803
To make an Apple or a Pear Pie.
Make a good puff paste crust, lay some round the sides of the dish, pare and quarter your apples, and take out the cores; lay a row of apples thick, throw in half the sugar you intend for your pie; mince a little lemon-peel fine, throw a few cloves, here and there one, then the rest of your apples, and the rest of your sugar. You must sweeten to your palate, and squeeze in a little lemon juice. Boil the peeling of the apples and the cores in fair water, with a blade of mace till it is very good; strain it, and boil the syrup with sugar till it is rich; pour it into your pie, put on your upper crust, and bake it. You may put in a little quince or marmalade, if you please.
Thus make a pear pie, but don’t put in any quince. You may butter them when they come out of the oven, or beat up the yolks of
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two eggs, and half a pint of cream, with a little nutmeg, sweetened with sugar; take off the lid, and pour in the cream. Cut the crust in little three cornered pieces, stick them about the pie, and send it to table.
A Cookbook with vintage pie recipes
The Frugal Housewife of 1803, offers an excellent overview of the English contributions to what has become American cooking. This cookbook contained many traditional English recipes.
The Frugal Housewife was popular on both sides of the Atlantic from its first printing in London ca 1765.
Pear Pie Recipe – Old Fashioned of 1803
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—Ingredients—
Filling
3 pounds pears (best pears for pie)
1 tablespoon fresh-squeezed lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon fresh lemon zest
3/4 cup white sugar
few cloves
2 egg yolks
1 pint milk or cream
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
Directions
1. Prepare the pastry: Roll the pastry and line a 9-inch pie plate with the bottom crust. Roll out the remaining dough for the top crust. Chill the pastry.
2. Preheat the oven to 400° F.
3. Prepare the filling: Pour the fresh-squeezed lemon juice in the bottom of a large bowl. Add your lemon zest to the bowl. Peel, halve and core the pears. Be sure to remove seeds. Slice them evenly and slim into the bowl, coating them with the lemon juice as you go.
4. Boil the peeling of the pears and the cores in some water. Cook this down into a syrup. Add sugar to this.
5. Add this mixture to the pears with spice just before you want to bake the pie, mix gently. Adjust sugar to taste as needed.
6. Scrape the filling into the bottom crust, dot with butter and cover it with the second crust. Trim and crimp the crust; chill the pie for about 10 minutes in the refrigerator. Cut vent slits in the top crust. It is your option to sprinkle it with sugar or brush the top with egg wash.
7. Bake the pie on a baking sheet for 10 minutes at 400° F or until the crust looks dry, blistered, and blonde. Turner the oven down to 375°F, and bake for at least 45 minutes more or until the crust is golden brown, and visible juices are thickened and bubble slowly through the slits in the top crust. Check if the bottom crust has darkened. If not bake a little more and cover the top crust, so it does not burn.
8. Cool the pie completely before cutting at least a few hours or warm in an hour. Store the pie uncovered in a cool place up to three days.
