This Atlantic Beach Pie recipe comes from Bill Smith, long-time chef of Crook’s Corner restaurant in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. When I first tasted it, I went into a pie-induced trance. I have a fuzzy memory of finishing the pie, sharing it with my dinner companion, forks nudging each other for the final bites.
Atlantic Beach Pie was commonly served at seafood restaurants on the North Carolina coast when Smith was growing up. He told me that back in the day, there was a commonly held belief that if you ate sweets after a seafood meal you would get sick. The exception was this citrus pie, the only dessert served at many of these coastal seafood joints.
It was often served with meringue on top (no doubt using the white from the yolks that are used in the filling), but Bill prefers it with whipped cream, and I am not about to argue.
The beauty of this pie lies in the play between the salty, dense crust made from soda crackers and the creamy sweet-and-tart filling featuring citrus juice. To crush the crackers, you can use a food processor, or even your hands, but the easiest and least messy way is to put them into a sturdy, gallon-size, zipper-top bag, press out the air, seal it, and hit it with a rolling pin or other blunt object until they are crushed.
ATLANTIC BEACH PIE
Start to finish: One hour 15 minutes plus chilling time
Servings: 8
For the crust:
1 1/2 sleeves of Saltines
8 to 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
3 tablespoons sugar
For the filling:
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
4 large egg yolks
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice or lime juice, or a mix of the two
For the sweetened whipped cream:
1 1/2 cups heavy or whipping cream
2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
Nutrition information per serving: 554 calories; 314 calories from fat; 35 g fat (21 g saturated; 1 g trans fats); 201 mg cholesterol; 261 mg sodium; 53 g carbohydrate; 1 g fiber; 35 g sugar; 9 g protein.
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