Lemon meringue pie is one of the hallmarks of the American dessert repertoire. It’s not that difficult to make, though its three elements require care of preparation. For starters, use a rich, flaky pastry dough (see link for my flaky pastry dough recipe). This needs to be baked blind. Second step is the lemon custard filling. It’s thickened with cornstarch and flour so that when you add egg yolks to cook, the yolks when simmered to thicken won’t curdle because the flour and cornstarch prevent this. Then there’s the meringue.

My recipe calls for whites from 4 separated eggs; I sometimes use the whites from 5 to 6 eggs for a bigger meringue (but don’t add extra yolks to filling). Another little trick is to fold in a few tablespoons of meringue into the cooled lemon filling before putting it in the pie shell. This lightens the filling and makes it really precious.