Since I baked a modern lemon meringue pie on the Pastry Sampler blog, I’d thought I’d also share versions from the year 1890.

Lemon Pie Recipes From 1890

Here are four different recipes for Lemon Pie. Each are completely different: with meringue or without it; the filling cooked on the stove top or baked in the oven; thickened with a starch or flour, or a slice of bread. Each are begging to be tested in my kitchen when the urge for lemon pie reaches my fingers again.

Lemon Pie No. 1 (baked with a top crust, no meringue)

One cup of hot water, one tablespoon of cornstarch, one cup of white sugar, one tablespoon of butter, the juice and grated rind of one lemon. Cook for a few minutes, add one egg, and bake with a top and bottom crust.

Lemon Pie No. 2 (custard baked in the oven, and topped with a meringue)

The juice and grated rind of one lemon, one cup of white sugar, the yolks of two eggs, three tablespoons of sifted flour and sufficient milk to fill a plate. Make it with under-crust but not the upper-crust. Bake till nearly done, and then add a frosting made of the beaten whites of two eggs, and two tablespoons of powdered sugar, and set back in the oven and brown slightly.

Lemon Pie No. 3 (custard thickened with bread, and topped with a meringue)

One cup of water, three-quarters of a cup of sugar, yolks of two eggs, a piece of butter the size of a walnut, and one slice of bread broken without the crust. Grade one lemon, mixing the juice with the grated rind; bake with only an under-crust. When done, beat the whites of the eggs with four tablespoons of pulverized sugar and a few drops of lemon, and spread over the top. Then return to the oven to brown slightly.

Lemon Pie No. 4 (made with chopped pulp, no meringue)

Grate the yellow rind of one lemon, then take off the inside skin and chop the pulp after taking out the seeds; add the grated rind, one tablespoonful of flour, one teacup of sugar, one cup of water, one egg and a tablespoonful of butter melted. Bake without an upper-crust.