Key Lime Pie demo - (it's almost impossible to screw this up)

by Ellen Slattery, Posted May 17th 2008 @ 10:01AM

On the Today show, Epicurious.com Editor Tanya Steel shows Hota Kotb and Kathie Lee Gifford how to make a simple key lime pie.

Even if you can make a key lime pie in your sleep, it's a fun video (even though they say to use pre-squeezed key lime juice if you can't find limes - eek! That's like using lemon juice instead of real lemons in lemon squares!) The taste just can't compare.

Well, the video is fine until good ol' Kathie Lee ruins the moment by first commenting on the amount of calories in the condensed can of milk (Steel smartly replies "Yeah, but who's counting calories?") and then likens the ingredient to colostrum (and Kotb remarks, "Buzzkill.")

Cook much, Kathie Lee? Yeesh - don't invite her over when you're making key lime pie. She'll totally ruin your appetite.

Filed Under: Television/Film, Celebrities
Tags: america, citrus, dessert, epicurious, florida, hota kotb, HotaKotb, kathie lee gifford, KathieLeeGifford, key lime pie, key limes, KeyLimePie, KeyLimes, lemons, pie, tanya steel, TanyaSteel

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

5-17-2008 @12:47PM Dan said... When I lived in Florida, my family used to visit a little bakery on Sanibel Island that made Key Lime Pie. I remember how adamant they were about authentic Key Lime Pie being most similar to a Lemon Meringue pie, milk, cream, and condensed milk were all verboten!

I can't seem to find the original cookbook... I know that most Key Lime Pies are made with condensed milk these days, maybe because they keep better in freezer shelves, and meringue does not... or or maybe because the sweetened condensed milk folks distorted the classic recipe to sell more product (not unlike that silly "no cook" marshmallow cream + condensed milk recipe for fudge!). Or because the sweetened condensed milk recipe is easier? (like meringues are difficult?).

Nonetheless, you will find southerners "fight'n words" over the proper recipe. Me? I don't want cream in my key lime pie--I want and prefer my "key lime meringue".

Here is a good recipe... matching what I am talking about, and note that Jessie says it is a "family recipe passed down over generations"! See what I mean?

http://www.familyoven.com/recipe/jessie-s-heirloom-key-lime-pie/304342
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5-19-2008 @9:25AM Victor Agreda, Jr. said... In fact, condensed milk became the preferred method because BEFORE refrigeration was available in everyone's kitchen, the canned milk kept better. I use egg yolks in mine, and you *have* to cook those for safety reasons (unless your last name is Balboa).

BTW, fresh-squeezed key limes are great, but not practical. The bottled key lime juice, if used before the date, tastes great.

I personally prefer the gooey texture of this method to the fluffy, meringue-style of the other type of key lime pie.
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