Buttermilk Pie

With this pie, I take back everything I've ever said about not liking sugary sweet desserts. This is it. The one and only where I can't get enough, that overwhelming sugary vanilla custard that's only slightly offset by the pucker-y lemon buttermilk. From my earliest memories this was my favorite pie, the pie that sealed my love for pies in general, but a dessert I make sparingly because I know my self control would not be able to hold back and my waistline would hate me for it. But sometimes, especially on quiet summer weekends, you have to indulge.

If you aren't familiar, buttermilk pie is a southern dessert. It's similar to chess pie but doesn't include any cornmeal, though I see the appeal of the extra added texture of crunch. It's got that beautiful tang from the buttermilk, another favorite from my childhood, that's almost brought to a completely different level with the complementary lemon, while cooking the top forms a delicious browned crunch. Once chilled it's irresistible, completely addictive. It's special occasion, a once in a summertime blue moon pie but so worth the extra hours at the gym.

How to: Make Buttermilk

Love cooking with buttermilk but always wondering what to do with that giant quart after you've used your measly 1/2 cup for a recipe? Sure there's pancakes, biscuits, sorbets, ice creams, cakes, pies, icings that can be made but if you don't have the time (or frankly don't want to make all those fatty foods), just use your regular milk and make you own. It's so simple you'll want to laugh out loud.

All the ingredients you need

Perfecting Home

"Texas: Where the tea is sweet & accents are sweeter, summer starts in April, front porches are wide & words are long, macaroni & cheese is a vegetable, pecan pie is a staple, y'all is a proper pronoun, chicken is fried, & biscuits come with gravy, everything is darlin' & someone is always getting their heart blessed . . . "

One of my fellow Texas friends posted this on facebook and it was something I just loved. And also, if you aren't a Texan, but have been subjected to their seemingly insane opinions on things like how "pecan" is really pronounced or what a proper gravy consists of this little unknown quote can help to explain. Or you can just wait until you invite a Texan over for dinner and they completely hijack your kitchen trying to recreate the perfect Texas gravy.

To explain a bit further my crazy love of this seemingly insignificant almost after thought of a sauce, gravy was one of the very first foods from home I worked to perfect when I moved to New York, because, well, a good gravy is nearly impossible to find in these parts. And by gravy I mean stick to your ribs, good ol' fashioned Southern cream gravy (aka white gravy). I know most people do a brown gravy with meatloaf or meats in general but call me craz...err...Texan, if I'm going to have gravy then it's got to be the cream kind. The kind you smother over biscuits, and drown chicken fried steak in and only make on special occasion weekends because it's such a fattening indulgence.