custard pie

{{Short description|Pastry container with a sweet egg mixture}}

{{about|the dessert|the Led Zeppelin song|Custard Pie}}

{{distinguish|Custard tart}}

{{Infobox prepared food

| name = Custard pie

| image = CoconutCustardPie.jpg

| image_size = 250px

| caption = A version of coconut cream pie

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| type = Pie

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| main_ingredient = Pie shell, custard

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File:Pear custard pie slice, November 2008.jpg

{{wikt | custard pie | custard}}

A custard pie is any type of uncooked custard mixture placed in an uncooked or partially cooked crust and baked together.{{Cite web|url= http://www.thenibble.com/reviews/main/desserts/all-about-custard.asp|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150518082923/http://www.thenibble.com/reviews/main/desserts/all-about-custard.asp |url-status= dead|archive-date= May 18, 2015|title= Types Of Custard|date= May 18, 2015}} In North America, "custard pie" commonly refers to a plain mixture of milk, eggs, sugar, salt, vanilla extract and sometimes nutmeg combined with a pie crust. It is distinctly different from a cream pie, which contains cooked custard poured into a cooled, precooked crust.{{cn|date=July 2019}} In the United Kingdom, the comical or political act of pieing is conventionally done with a "custard pie". Some common custard pies include pumpkin pie, lemon and buttermilk chess pie, coconut cream pie, and buko pie. True custard is defined as a liquid thickened with eggs. The often large number of whole eggs in custard pie make it very rich.

Cooks in Classical antiquity understood the binding properties of eggs.

{{cite book

|last1 = Grant

|first1 = Mark

|date = 19 May 2015

|orig-date = 1999

|title = Roman Cookery: Ancient Recipes for Modern Kitchens

|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=3o2CDwAAQBAJ

|edition = revised

|publication-place = London

|publisher = Serif

|page = 87

|isbn = 9781909150461

|access-date = 25 March 2024

|quote = 'Ordinary thrion: an Athenian dish into which go pig and kid lard, flour, milk and the yolk of an egg to bind it. [...]' [Ancient commentator on Aristophanes['] Acharnians]

}}

During the Middle Ages, the first custard pies - in the modern sense of the term - began to appear. Initially, custards were used only as fillings for pies, pastries and tarts.{{Cite web |url= http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodpuddings.html#custard |title= The Food Timeline: history notes--puddings |work= The Food Timeline |first= Lynne |last= Olver |author-link= Lynne Olver |access-date= 2007-07-11 |archive-date= 2018-05-09 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180509195526/http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodpuddings.html#custard |url-status=live }} Both Europe and Asia had recipes that contained custards.

The word "custard" derives from crustade (a pie with a crust),

{{oed | custard}}

or from {{linktext|croustade}} (an edible container of savoury food). After the 16th century, custards began to be used in individual dishes rather than as a filling in crusts.{{clarification needed|date=March 2025}}

Today, custards are used as filling in pies and tarts, and as individual dishes.{{clarification needed|date=March 2025}} Ideally a custard pie should be light and delicate, but still have good body. Custards can be made in two ways: baked or stirred upon the stove, but most custard-pie recipes call for baking.{{citation needed|date=March 2025}} The eggs in custard mixtures, when cooked, turn from liquid to solid. If cooked over excessive heat, the eggs will curdle, which is extremely undesirable. Curdling can be prevented by using lower temperatures and stirring. As such, making "true" custard pie is a very delicate process.{{original research?|date=March 2025}}