In celebration of Julia--an odd recipe

 

Today is Julia Child’s birthday. The legendary chef would be 111, probably still drinking wine and dropping chickens on the floor. In celebration of her birthday, the Kitchn website asked fifteen home cooks for their favorite Child’s recipes. Responses included the expected: French dressing, upside down martini, crepes, coq au vin, chicken liver mousse, and, of course, the classic boeuf bourguignon.

By contrast, I thought I’d share one of the most unusual recipes I’ve ever heard of. Let me stress I have not tried this, but I trust Texas author Cindy Bonner who sent me this recipe for Water Pie. You’ve heard of other Depression-era pies with simple, inexpensive ingredients—vinegar pie is a classic. Then there’s Ritz cracker pie, often called mock apple pie, for when apples aren’t available—it is said to taste remarkably like apple pie. Chess pie and buttermilk pie, rich with butter and cream or milk, may not be money-saving Depression pies, but they are classic, southern favorites and have the same custard texture that Cindy found in water pie. My Mississippi daughter-in-law makes chess pie for us at holidays, and it is one of my favorites.

So what is water pie? Sounds … well, watery. This goes together like nothing I’ve ever heard of before, so if you try it, be sure to follow the directions

Water Pie

 

Ingredients:

1 - 9” pie shell, unbaked

1 1/2 cup water

4 TBL all purpose flour

1 cup sugar

2 tsp vanilla

5 TBL butter cut in pieces

 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Pour the water into the prepared 9” unbaked pie shell. In small bowl, combine flour and sugar together. Sprinkle the sugar mixture evenly over the water in the crust. Do not stir. Drizzle the vanilla over the water and top with pieces of butter. Bake pie for 30 minutes. Lower heat to 375 degrees and cover edges of crust if necessary to prevent excessive browning. Bake for 25-30 more minutes. The pie will be watery when you take it out of the oven but will thicken as it cools. Once completely cool, chill in the fridge. 

Cindy served this with a dollop of whipping cream but says her partner, Wayne, didn’t think it needed it. For Cindy, the texture reminded her of chess pie. It was, she said, surprisingly flavorful with a unique texture. She advises a couple of cautions: put the pie plate on a cookie sheet for baking, to catch drips; also the crust stuck to the bottom—I suppose either greasing or flouring the pie pan would help that.

 

If you don’t know Cindy’s work, you might want to investigate. As she says, her heroes are most often women and her soldiers drive supply trucks rather than tanks. Her newest title is For Love and Glory, a WWII saga about a Texas boy who joined the Royal Air Force to fly against the Germans when he didn’t quality for the fledgling US air force. Of course, there’s a strong romantic element. The Passion of Dellie O’Barr and Looking after Lily are classics, and Right from Wrong won a Texas PEN Award. She blogs at http://cindybonner.blogspot.com and more about her can be found at https://www.cindybonner.com.

Let me know if  you try water pie. I’ll pass the word along to C indy.