By The Way...

Friday, November 25, 2005
9:43:00 AM EST
Hearing Skyblue -- Ishq
First, a picture of what Thanksgiving looked like where I was, just because it's pretty:



Yes, I live in Norman Rockwell's America. What are you gonna do.

Two, since I've heard cries of "no fair!" because I posted a picture of the pecan pie I made yesterday but no recipe, allow me to present John Scalzi's Pecan Pie. I'll note it's a variation off my friend Sue Lizano's pecan pie, which in my opinion is the Platonic ideal of the pecan pie. But mine does well enough, especially if you like your pecan pies dark and nutty and chewy, as opposed to custardy (which I think is dastardly).

John Scalzi's Pecan Pie

1 normal-sized stick of butter
1 cup dark corn syrup
1 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon of salt
3 eggs
2 or 3 tablespoons of good whiskey
2 1/2 cups of chopped pecans
1 9-inch graham cracker pie crust (if you can make one of these yourself, bless you. I could try, but someone once told me I should recognize my limits, and making a pie crust of any sort from scratch qualifies beyond my limits).

1. Preheat your oven to 350.

2. Soften up that stick of butter, and pour it, the corn syrup, brown sugar, salt, whiskey and eggs into a big bowl, and mix them all together well.

3. Take the pecans and lightly sautee them in a pan with butter and a splash of whiskey. You want to do this just long enough to release that nutty smell.

4. Take your sauteed pecans and combine them with the rest of your ingredients. Mix well so the pecans are evenly distributed.

5. Pour the ingredients into your pie crust. Put the whole thing in the oven (which, remember, you've preheated to 350) for about 50 minutes, give or take depending on the size and efficiency of your oven (you'll know it's done when you can stick a knife in it and the knife comes out pretty clean).

6. Let cool for about an hour.

7. Dig in.

Now, this particular recipe varies from most pecan pie recipes in that it uses more butter and slightly more pecans, and calls for both dark corn syrup and dark brown sugar. What this means is that the final pie is very dark, very sweet, very nutty and very buttery. Even I, who make the pie, can only handle one medium-sized wedge at a time. I love it, but I recognize the need to pace myself with it.

One of the nice things about using a graham cracker crust is that the pecan filling gets into the crust just a little and then carmelizes, essentially making a lightly candied crust. In my opinion, this is really good.

Anyway, try it and let me know what you think!




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This entry has 8 comments: (Add your own)

• #8 Comment from lurkynat
  11/27/05 1:47 AM | Permalink

  wow whiskey! :):)
  seriously your recipe looks very serious! lol
  thanks JOhn!
  natalie
• #7 Comment from annalisa135
  11/25/05 10:03 PM | Permalink

  Okay, I just read your previous comment about the vanilla.  I'll give it a shot!  Thanks!!
• #6 Comment from annalisa135
  11/25/05 10:02 PM | Permalink

  the picture is AWESOME!!!
  
  Thank you for the pie recipe.  I was really curious, but didn't want to ask, in case it was a secret family recipe or something.  :-)
  
  The only thing I'm not sure about is the whiskey for a couple reasons.  1)  whiskey makes me puke;  2)  I don't think I could give this to my kids, who would be begging me for some.
  
  If I don't use whiskey is there an alternative ingredient?
  
• #5 Comment from johnmscalzi Entry Author
  11/25/05 12:51 PM | Permalink

  Well, I don't drink but the missus does, as do most people, so we have whiskey (among other things) in the house. The baking process gets rid of the alcohol in any event. If you don't have whiskey, Vanilla flavoring (real if possible) is a decent substitute.
• #4 Comment from lsfp1960
  11/25/05 12:07 PM | Permalink

  John, for a non-drinker I'm surprised...whiskey in your pie?  So do I have to the "bottle store" and buy a big bottle of whiskey to make this pie? Where do you get those cute little bottles of booze?  What if I left the whiskey out?   Linda
  http://journals.aol.com/lsfp1960/LindasWorld/

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