Rouses_FINAL-November-December-2017

the Holiday issue

Gone Pecan by Crescent Dragonwagon + photo by Romney Caruso

E veryone is convinced that their, or their mother’s, pecan pie is the world’s best. I can see several reasons for this conviction. Possibly, it’s just because most of us have a rip-roaring sweet tooth, and pecan pie is essentially a gigantic piece of really good candy in a crust, and eating something this sweet makes us happy, and the version we most often eat is our own, or our mother’s. Possibly this is because, given that one cannot possibly rationalize eating a gigantic piece of really good candy in a crust with frequency, it is a rare treat,indulged in once—maybe twice — a year, max, so it gains extra allure, served up with the whipped cream of superlatives. Or possibly it’s because pecan pie is a food you encounter at home far more often than at a restaurant. This means it is likely to

Look, all pecan pie fillings are essentially the same thing: a sweetened liquid mixture that is, like a custard, bound and thickened by eggs. But where a custard pie uses sweetened milk or buttermilk for the liquid, in a pecan pie the liquid is all sugar and sugar equivalent, say, corn or some other syrup.For the vast majority of Americans, that syrup is Karo. And, again, for the vast majority of Americans, that recipe is the one right on the Karo bottle. And it’s a fine recipe, as far as it goes, and I know you have always enjoyed it and would be happy to have its shoes under your bed … but it is the same one you have eaten your entire life. Forthwith, here are some persuasive points of difference where my pecan pie is concerned: My pecan pie’s sweetness is not a Johnny- one-note.

be homemade, with all the associations of familial care and tradition; it’s Aunt Sudie’s recipe that Memaw just had to make, and Boudreaux will have no other. I understand, and respect, these rationales for why your or your mother’s pecan pie is the world’s best. But, meaning no disrespect, there is one definitive reason why, no matter what you believe, your or your mother’s version cannot be the world’s best. And that reason is this: My pecan pie is the world’s best. Here’s why, and before you get all bent out of shape, relax; I’m going to give you the recipe at the end of this, and you’ll be able to make it and see for yourself. My pecan pie is not the same old, same old.

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MY ROUSES EVERYDAY NOVEMBER | DECEMBER 2017