- [Narrator] Growing up, my favorite thing
my mother ever made was lemon meringue pie.
I'd watch her squeeze fresh lemons,
beat egg whites into a fluffy cloud,
and place it in the fridge,
where I'd wait hours for it to chill before
I could eat this lemon gooey goodness.
As much as I enjoyed eating it,
my mother enjoyed baking it, because she was doing something
her mother did for her.
My mom comes from a large family
that didn't have much growing up.
Because some black families historically
didn't have monetary valuables to pass down,
my grandmother, like most, passed down her recipes.
So once a year, my grandmother would make
all seven of her children whatever dessert they asked for.
My mother always asked for lemon meringue pie,
and it was the first pie she ever learned to bake.
Then, one fateful day,
when I was in high school,
just like always, she squeezed the lemons,
made the cloud, and placed it in the fridge.
But, instead of pie, we got soup.
My mom was devastated,
but, I wasn't gonna let it go to waste.
I literally drank it.
She tried the recipe again,
but, just more soup.
'Til this day, we still don't know what went wrong.
So here's my problem.
- I want to be able to pass this recipe down
to my kids, my nieces, my nephews.
So, I've asked my good friend, Ayo,
to help me fix this (mumbles)
- That was sexy.
- Yeah! (beep)
I've sent you over how my mom has made it.
She literally, like,
put it out on index cards.
What do you think we can do to fix it?
- I have a few ideas.
First of all,
love the recipe.
Super old school, it's all dirty.
- It is, isn't it! (laughs)
Generations!
- Yeah, the one thing I notice is there's no cornstarch,
and I feel like usually people use cornstarch to make it,
like, fool-proof, you know what I mean?
- Love the idea!
But um,
Grandmama Clara Davis would never.
- Clara Davis?
- Yes, Mrs. Clara Davis would never.
- Okay, well we will show respect to Mrs. Clara Davis.
(laughs)
Well let's go get the ingredients,
and then we'll figure it out.
- All right, sounds good.
(upbeat music)
- First thing I thing we should do is focus on the filling,
since you said that's the problem area.
The recipe does say eight lemons.
No offense to Mama Clara Davis,
eight is a lot of lemons,
especially because our lemons are a little more aggressive
(laughs) than what they probably had back in the day.
So I think we should do six lemons.
- Okay!
- I think the six lemons, instead of eight,
will help it set,
and reduce the soupy-ness of it.
So while you're busy on that,
I am gonna separate the yolks from the whites,
cause you need the yolks for the filling,
and I need the whites for my meringue.
And we're gonna go from there.
- So I don't know, but usually if you roll it first, you--
- Yeah, get it all juicy.
I mean, like I said, it's an aggressive lemon,
(laughs)
so I don't think it would hurt you.
So, I crack the eggs actually into my hand,
and then I just kinda open my fingers and let
the whites fall through.
I know people do the eggshell thing,
but that's usually where I end up cracking the yolk.
So I just kinda let the white fall through,
help it out a little bit.
- I have literally never seen that in my life.
- (laughs)
Destiny,
juice the lemon, sis! - I'm loosening them up!
I'm loosening them up!
- Stop massaging the lemons, girl!
(laughs)
You could never be my sous chef, I would kill you.
(laughs) This is taking forever!
I have cracked eight eggs,
and you are still massaging these lemons.
- You know what, this requires delicacy.
You know, on the recipe it didn't say love,
but you need to make it with love.
- I feel like Clara Davis would be done.
(laughs loudly)
- Clara Davis also didn't have these nails,
let's start there.
- How many people are in,
I know you said it's a big family,
how many of them is it?
- My mom is the youngest of seven.
Yeah, a lot!
- Oh, Clara Davis was busy.
You know, it's funny, when you originally told me
about this recipe, I was so shocked because
I've never had lemon meringue pie.
- Really?
- Yeah, it's just so not my cultural experience.
It's just not my black experience, you know?
- Interesting!
'Cause I very much was like,
black people have lemon meringue pie all the time.
- No, when I mentioned it to my mom,
she was like, yeah it's delicious!
I was like, well, sis, were you gonna tell me?
(laughs)
- Were you gonna make this for me?
- No, my mom...
My grandma, yes.
Janie Bell makes a pie.
- It's a black grandmother thing - pie.
- And the great thing about this,
I notice it makes two?
- It does!
- That's how you know she had a bunch of kids.
All right, so we're gonna clean up.
- That is one thing my mother always taught me.
Clean up behind yourself
as you cook.
- Put it in the bowl!
Bougy! - Oh, that makes sense.
(air whooshes)
- All right, so we have everything.
We have our condensed milk, we have our eggs,
we have our cup and a half of lemon juice.
So I'm gonna mix the condensed milk and,
do you wanna whisk?
- Yes!
- You got the wrist action? - Oh, wrist...
(laughs)
- Typically, what you would do is temper in the eggs,
but condensed milk makes this super easy.
We do literally none of that.
- Okay!
- [Ayo] Now get in there.
- [Destiny] Oh, this is so much thicker than I thought!
- Okay, so I'm not in love with your whisking technique,
so can you pour this in while I whisk?
- Do you love my pouring technique?
How do you...
- Yeah, it's fine.
It'll do.
- Very liquid-y...
I smell it!
- You smell the lemon? (laughs)
- I smell it!
- Okay, I think we have incorporated enough.
Just pour it in the center.
- She usually like, bounces back and forth
to even them out.
All right, I think that's all,
I think that's all she's gonna give us.
- You've had way too much fun.
(laughs)
- All right, what's next?
Oh!
- (laughs) Okay, so next we're gonna make,
I'm so sorry (laughs)
So next we're gonna make the meringue.
- Okay.
- She's gonna wipe you.
- Thank you!
- I was trying so hard to go on, (laughs)
but you looked so distraught. (laughs)
- Oh! (sad violin music)
(upbeat music)
- So now we're gonna make our topping.
We're gonna make the meringue.
I'm gonna add a little bit of cream of tartar,
'cause it'll help it stabilize,
it makes a little more fool-proof for us.
Will we allow that?
- I'll allow it, this time.
- Okay, so we're gonna do that.
Our egg whites.
The reason we let them sit out here
is because we need them to come up to
like, room temperature.
- Okay.
- 'Cause it helps it come together and whip easier,
and they're gonna be glossy, shiny, and just perfect.
So we're gonna add in our egg whites,
(laughs) and we're gonna start whipping.
(mixer whirs)
You're gonna start seeing it form up,
'cause the air will start to change the color,
so it goes from being translucent like this,
to like a beautiful white meringue.
Okay, so I think it's ready for us to add
our cream or tartar.
We're actually just adding a teaspoon,
so not a whole lot.
It's not gonna make a lot of difference in the flavor,
but again, it'll help stabilize it.
- Okay!
(mixer whirs)
- Okay, so I think we're about ready to add
the sugar.
You see how fluffy it is?
So I'm just gonna add a little bit of sugar at a time.
And I believe the recipe says one teaspoon per egg.
So we're gonna follow mom's recipe.
Gimme a little sprinkle!
- Yeah, there you go!
(mixer whirs)
- Oh, I think we're there!
- I do!
- It look like what you remember?
- Yes!
- Good.
- Wow!
- And it's really stiff, it's like it could...
- Oh!
- I mean, how much do you trust your mom's recipe?
- I mean, you added something called tartar. (laughs)
- All right, so after you got to this point,
what did your mom do?
- She literally just like,
dolloped them on and then,
a circle.
- Okay, well I will let you do it.
Make your mama proud, go ahead, girl.
- Yay!
Alrighty!
Something like that, I don't...
- That's fine, it doesn't have to be perfect.
- It's not gonna be!
- I think maybe you could take a lot,
and then smooth it around?
- Okay, we'll try that.
- I think that would be a lot easier
(laughs) than the individual clouds.
- (laughs) Don't know what I'm doing.
A pie, we're making pie!
- I think you're done, I think that's the answer,
I think you're done.
Okay, so the recipe, I noticed,
did not have a time nor temperature.
It just said,
cook until it's brown,
which, totally understand,
my grandma was also about like,
it just feels right!
When it looks right!
(laughs)
Okay, well, I haven't made this 200 times, grandma,
so I need, like, specifics.
So, what do you think?
- She generally bakes at like 375.
And again, just until it browns.
- 375 feels a little high.
I think it'll make it brown fast and it won't set,
which is what we're trying to fix.
So I think we drop that down just a tad.
Okay, so let's do 350.
- Okay.
- And then we'll just keep an eye on it as it browns.
- Let's put her in the oven!
- Are we gonna sing to her, too?
- Love!
You have to make it with love!
- I don't understand why you're yelling at me.
(upbeat music)
- It smells good!
- And they look really nice!
- Yes!
- So, at 350, this only took us about 15 minutes.
- Yeah.
- So we need to let it sit for an hour,
and then what does your mom usually do?
- She pretty much puts it in the fridge.
- See, this is one of those black family recipe things,
because nowhere on that recipe card does it say
put it in the fridge.
- She definitely,
I know for sure she puts it in the fridge.
- So is it like, three episodes of "Rugrats" long?
Or like?
Let's chill it down for about three hours,
which is like, a marathon of "Rugrats."
(laughs)
And after that, we'll put it out and we'll eat it.
- I'm excited!
(mysterious music)
The moment of truth!
- Let's just go for it.
- Alrighty.
- She definitely did not set.
(laughs)
- We're on the right track,
because it's not as soupy as when she had made it.
So much is happening on this plate.
- The true struggle.
(laughs)
Okay.
- Hmm, I will say, the lemon was spot on.
But it just doesn't taste as sweet as I remember.
- Yep, that thing is lemony.
(laughs)
All right, yeah, so we'll regroup,
and we'll try this again tomorrow.
- All right.
- Maybe tomorrow I can
redeem myself.
'Cause I feel like I'm, like, on the Baking Bachelor.
Like, I didn't get a rose,
tonight was not my night.
I failed.
- I have faith.
Tomorrow, we will make this happen.
- We have to!
- We have no choice.
- You can not embarrass me out here in these streets.
- We can do it!
- So excited.
(laughs)
(determined music)
- We have regrouped.
We have slept.
- We have slept on this.
- I think the name of the game today
is reduce the juice.
- Oh, okay!
- I realize, we didn't measure
the lemon juice.
We were just like,
six lemons.
- Yeah!
- So today I definitely think we'll measure it,
we'll go about half a cup of lemon juice per pie,
so one cup total.
But you did say it was good and lemony.
The best way to get the flavor without all the juice
is to zest it.
- Oh!
Zesting! - Have you ever zest a lemon
No. - before?
I just know zest.
- So basically (laughs)
basically you're gonna take this,
the microplane,
and you're just gonna put it against the flesh.
You're not gonna push down too hard,
'cause you don't want the white part.
You just want those lovely little
lemon shavings from the top.
- Alrighty!
- So I'm gonna let you do this.
- Okay!
- And you just lightly press it.
- Yes, I'm zesting!
- Turn it as you zest, 'cause you don't want to get
in to the white part. - Too far into it, yeah.
- I think you've zested old girl enough, she's...
- Oh, did I?
- She's been through a lot.
You can start with a new one.
- Oh!
- And I'm actually gonna juice this one while you do that,
look how teamwork makes the dream work.
- It does, love!
My mother always puts on gospel music
when she's cooking.
- My grandmother did, too.
Janie cooks with the lord.
♪ Oh my lord ♪
♪ Sing hallelujah, people ♪
- All right!
- As we say in the kitchen,
if you got time to lean,
you got time to clean.
- Oh!
- And you're not doing anything!
So let's clean up,
and we'll start mixing our filling.
(air whooshes)
Operation reduce the juice is done.
Since you said you wanted it a little bit sweeter,
I think we should add a little more sugar.
- Always down for more sugar.
- So the cornstarch was just an instant no,
but sugar, you're like, yeah!
- Yeah!
- So (laughs) we're gonna make the filling
just like we did last time.
We have our condensed milk, we have our eggs,
our sugar, our two tablespoons of lemon zest,
and our cup of lemon juice.
Let's go.
Let's do it together.
- Wow.
(energetic music)
- I think we can go ahead and make our meringue.
We did this right yesterday,
we did do something right.
So we're gonna add our egg whites,
our tartar, and our sugar.
(mixer whirs)
- So then we just do this 'til we're,
'til we're whipped.
- We are not doing that!
Go Destiny, go Destiny,
still going, gonna be a while,
work it out, good knee.
I think we're there.
So I'm gonna let you go ahead
and do your thing with the decorating.
Maybe today we can give her a little more body.
(energetic music)
She got curves.
She thick.
C-C.
T-H-I-C-C, ain't that what the kids say?
- Mhm, that's what the children say.
- Yesterday, I think we cooked it for about 15 minutes.
- Yeah.
- She wasn't set, at all.
Today I think we should go a little bit longer.
So I also think we should reduce the temperature,
that way, we can keep it from getting too brown too fast,
but we can also give the filling a little more time to cook
in the love oven.
- The love oven!
- The love oven.
(energetic music)
- [Together] Pie time!
- All right, I think we did it this time.
I think we need to give them their best shot
at life, though.
This time, I think we should add about two hours
to the chill time, so, five hours this time,
but that gives us enough time to, like, watch the whole
"Girlfriends" box set.
- I'm a fan!
We are gonna make this happen,
'cause, three days ain't for pie.
- I'm not coming over here a third time.
- We just won't make that pie.
- You won't have the pie. (laughs)
(mysterious music)
- So, this is our second attempt.
We've done this twice now,
with love!
We refuse to do it a third time. (laughs)
All right, I'm gonna let you cut into it,
'cause my heart can't take it.
- I'm ready, let's go for it.
- I feel like this is more stressful than it should be.
- It is.
I told you, it's like the Baking Bachelor.
Are we getting a rose?
We...
And the final rose goes to--
- Girl, pull it up, you're making me nervous!
Okay!
- Oh, I think we did it!
- I think we did it!
That's a big old slice you got, (laughs)
- This is mine!
Okay, let's taste it.
- I was gonna say.
- And I ate a whole one yesterday.
(laughs)
- It's fine.
- Oh my god!
- Is that it?
- We did it!
- Is it everything?
This is good!
- This is good!
I really like this, 'cause it's like my mom's,
but we switched it up a bit, so I kind of made it my own,
and have like, the perfect balance of sweet, lemon,
I'm a fan.
- I think as we go through generations,
the most important part for all of us is, like,
getting a little bit better,
whether it's your pie, whether it's, like,
your quality of life.
Like, we're all trying to do just a little bit better
than the generation before us.
- Absolutely!
- So, this pie is like a perfect representation of that.
So you like this recipe?
- Yes!
- This is it?
- Yes, I think we (pop)
We nailed it.
- So, I actually
typed this up for you. - Oh! (squeals excitedly)
- So you can have it.
- I got my own little card!
- Because there was no way you were gonna remember this.
- No, no, no.
(mumbles) a cute little recipe!
- Yeah.
- We've got pie, we've got pie!
We do pie!
(upbeat music)