Chess pie, also known as Jefferson Davis pie is a
dessert
Dessert is a course (food), course that concludes a meal. The course consists of sweet foods, such as confections, and possibly a beverage such as dessert wine and liqueur. In some parts of the world, such as much of Greece and West Africa, and ...
with a filling composed mainly of flour, butter, sugar, eggs, and sometimes milk, characteristic of
Southern United States cuisine.
It is similar to
pecan pie
Pecan pie is a pie of pecan nuts mixed with a filling of eggs, butter, and sugar (typically corn syrup). Variations may include white or brown sugar, cane syrup, sugar syrup, molasses, maple syrup, or honey. It is popularly served at holiday ...
without any nuts.
History
Chess pie was brought from England originally and was found in
New England
New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
as well as
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
.
It has some similarities to English lemon curd pie.
It is likely derived from recipes for cheeseless cheesecake that appeared in cookbooks as early as the 17th century, such as in Martha Washington's ''Booke of Cookery'' and the English ''A True Gentlewoman's Delight'' (1653).
A recipe explicitly called ''chess pie'' appeared in the 1877 cookbook by Estelle Woods Wilcox, ''Buckeye Cookery''.
Today chess pie is most commonly associated as a dessert of the
American South
The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...
.
Common types of chess pie are buttermilk, chocolate, lemon, and nut.
Name
Several derivations of the name ''chess pie'' have been proposed. The most likely is a derivation of ''cheese pie'', as early cookbooks grouped cheesecakes together with pies made of
curd
Curd is obtained by coagulating milk in a sequential process called curdling. It can be a final dairy product or the first stage in cheesemaking. The coagulation can be caused by adding rennet or any edible acidic substance such as lemon ...
or
custard
Custard is a variety of culinary preparations based on sweetened milk, cheese, or cream cooked with egg or egg yolk to thicken it, and sometimes also flour, corn starch, or gelatin. Depending on the recipe, custard may vary in consistency fro ...
.
Other possible derivations include: the town of Chester, England;
''chest pie'', from ''
pie chest
A pie safe, also called a pie chest, pie cupboard, kitchen safe, and meat safe, is a piece of furniture designed to store pies and other food items. This was a normal household item before iceboxes came into regular use, and it was an important p ...
'', a type of furniture used to store pies prior to home refrigeration; or an
eggcorn
An eggcorn is the alteration of a phrase through the mishearing or reinterpretation of one or more of its elements,, sense 2 creating a new phrase having a different meaning from the original but which still makes sense and is plausible when used ...
of "It's just pie", due to a misinterpretation of the pronunciation "It's jes' pie" in
Southern American English
Southern American English or Southern U.S. English is a regional dialect or collection of dialects of American English spoken throughout the Southern United States, though concentrated increasingly in more rural areas, and spoken primarily by Wh ...
.
Composition
The basic chess pie recipe calls for the preparation of a single crust and a filling composed of flour, butter, sugar, and eggs and milk or condensed milk. Some variations call for the addition of cornmeal as a thickener. Many recipes call for an acid such as vinegar, buttermilk, or lemon juice.
In addition to standard chess pie, other flavor variations include lemon, coconut, and chocolate chess pie. Some nut pies, including some pecan, fall under the category of chess pies.
Traditional pecan pie recipes do not include milk or condensed milk in the filling, and are typically regarded as a type of
sugar pie
Sugar pie is a dessert in northern French and Belgian cuisine, where it is called . It is also popular in Canada.
Various type of ''tarte au sucre'' are made. Some are a leavened dough topped with beet sugar or brown sugar, others have a crust ...
similar to British treacle rather than a milk containing custard (see ).
See also
*
Buttermilk pie
Buttermilk pie is a pie in American cuisine. Associated with the cuisine of the Southern United States, it is one of the desperation pies, made using simple, staple ingredients.
It is similar to, and sometimes confused with, chess pie, but it ...
*
Chess cake
*
List of pies, tarts and flans
This is a list of pies, tarts and flans. A pie is a baked or fried dish which is usually made of a pastry dough casing that covers or completely contains a filling of various sweetness, sweet or Umami, savory ingredients. A tart is a baked dish con ...
References
Sweet pies
Cuisine of the Southern United States
American pies
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