Runny Lemon Meringue Pie

[LPool]

I don't know what happened but maybe someone has an idea. I made the following recipe for a lemon megingue pie and although it looked like it has set up, I guess it didn't.
The recipe was : 4 egg yolks, 1/3 cup cornstarch, 1 1/2 cups water, 1 1/3 cups sugar, 1/4 tsp. salt, 3 tbls. butter , 1/2 cup lemon juice and 1 tbls. finely grated lemon zest.
It cooked up just fine...although I made it with extra large eggs. Could that have been the problem?
I poured it into my pie shell and after it had cooled to room temp. I put it in the fridge. I was serving it the next day.
I made Swiss Meringue (the day of serving) instead of the usual because it had been requested by the "Birthday Girl". Could that have been the problem? I took pie out of the fridge, put on the meringue, toasted the peaks with a small propane torch and then put it back in the fridge. I took it out about an hour before service to bring it up to room temp and cut into it to see that the lemon had not set up....anybody got any ideas? Thanks for any input.....

[chefinfrance]

Sounds like you should have baked it after to me ,I would guess 55 mins in a moderate oven that would be the norm for a lmp.
Steve www.masterchefinfrance.com

[RouxTheDay]

It sounds very much like you may have cooked it too hot/too long. Cornstarch will degrade and fail to thicken if boiled more than a minute or so. I remember this happened to my mom when I was little (she isn't much of a baker), and it drove her to tears.

What was your technique?

Also, since the yolks act as a thickener/emulsifier, I doubt their size was an issue. Did you temper the yolks (gradually add small amounts of hot mixture to yolks before adding them to the overall mix)?

I must respectfully disagree with chef about baking the pie. I've never seen a recipe for lemon meringue pie that called for baking, at least not the American version, other than the 10-15 minutes necessary to brown the meringue.

[Anneke]

Hi LPool,
I will move this to the pastry forum where it might get more attention.

[LPool]

Chefinfrance, I don't think that baking it would have done the trick as this recipe didn't ever call for baking it and I've never baked a lemon meringue pie before. The lemon is always cooked in a saucepan and then poured into the pie shell to set up. So I don't think that is the answer. But thank you for your insight.

[LPool]

Rouxtheday, maybe it was cooked a bit too long...here's what I did..I put the cornstarch, water, sugar and salt in the suacepan. Put it on the burner at about medium and brought the mixture to a boil, stirring frequently. I boiled it for 1 full minute removed it from the heat and added a little of it to my egg yolks that I had in a seperate bowl. Kept adding a little of the cornstarch mixture to my egg mixture until I had put in about 1/2 of it and then put it all back into the saucepan, turned the heat down to low and cooked it for another minute. Took it off the heat and stirred in the butter, lemon juice and zest and then poured the whole mixture into the pie shell. It looked like it was setting up nicely when I put it into the fridge after letting it cool to room temp. Didn't really pay any attention to it when I took it out of the fridge the next day to put on the Swiss Meringue and it didn't appear runny when I put the meringue on....that's why I wondered if the meringue had something to do with it....it was still a little bit warm when I put it on...could that extra moisture from the heat of the meringue had something to do....I guess I'll try it again and see what happens...that's probably the only way to know for sure....Thanks again for the insight....

[RouxTheDay]

I didn't notice you did a Swiss meringue until just now. You may have under or overcooked the meringue. And how long was it refrigerated? Mergingues tend to break down in the fridge -- especially on a lemon pie -- they're not really designed for long-term storage. The combo of improperly cooked Swiss meringue, along with too long in the fridge may have caused enough weeping to make the custard runny.

Also, there's a very good chance your eggs weren't sufficiently fresh. This would cause problems with both your custard and, especially, your meringue.

Next time, I'd try making sure your eggs are ultra fresh, ensuring your meringue is properly cooked and fully cooled before topping the pie, and not topping the pie until you're ready to serve. If you must hold it over, keep it at room temp.

Good luck!

[Gummy-Bear]

I had this problem when I made one for my cooking class. I found out that my problem was I don't like science in cooking and added a 1/4 cup of extra lemon juice because I like mine sour.

Speaking of which, would there be another way to get more lemon flavor in a pie other than adding more juice?

My idea worked great other than the river of lemon juice, I had a delightful pucker.

[tessa]

Originally Posted by LPool

I don't know what happened but maybe someone has an idea. I made the following recipe for a lemon megingue pie and although it looked like it has set up, I guess it didn't.
The recipe was : 4 egg yolks, 1/3 cup cornstarch, 1 1/2 cups water, 1 1/3 cups sugar, 1/4 tsp. salt, 3 tbls. butter , 1/2 cup lemon juice and 1 tbls. finely grated lemon zest.
It cooked up just fine...although I made it with extra large eggs. Could that have been the problem?
I poured it into my pie shell and after it had cooled to room temp. I put it in the fridge. I was serving it the next day.
I made Swiss Meringue (the day of serving) instead of the usual because it had been requested by the "Birthday Girl". Could that have been the problem? I took pie out of the fridge, put on the meringue, toasted the peaks with a small propane torch and then put it back in the fridge. I took it out about an hour before service to bring it up to room temp and cut into it to see that the lemon had not set up....anybody got any ideas? Thanks for any input.....

did you actually cook it ?? it doesnt seem like it was
heres a great recipe to try

Lemon Meringue Pie

Note: These recipes use NZ measurements. 1 c = 1 cup = 250 ml. 1 T = 1 tablespoon = 15 ml. 1 D = 2 teaspoons. 1 t = 1 teaspoon = 5ml. If you're in America, you may find you need a little extra baking powder in recipes that use it.
170g Sweet Short Pastry
3 eggs, separated
1 c water
Juice and rind of 2 medium lemons
1 c sugar
1 T butter
4 T cornflour
4 T castor sugar
1/2 t vanilla essence

Roll pastry and line a 23cm pie dish and bake at 200C for 20 minutes – cool.
FILLING: Into a small pot place yolks of 3 eggs, water, lemon juice and rind, butter and cornflour. Heat until very thick and cook another 2-3 minutes. When quite cold pour into baked pie shell and top with meringue.
MERINGUE: Beat egg-whites until stiff then add the castor sugar a little at a time, beating well after each addition, then finally beat in the vanilla. Spread meringue well over to the edges to seal. Cook at 200C for 10 to 15 minutes until golden brown.



got the recipe from this site here

Lemon Meringue Pie. Wickham family recipes.