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Alton Brown's Lemon Meringue Pie

How to make Alton Brown's Lemon Meringue Pie. Instructions written in my own words.
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword Alton Brown, pie
4 hours 50 minutes
Author Alton Brown

Ingredients

Crust

Filling

  • 4 large egg yolks save the whites
  • 280 g pure cane sugar
  • 50 g corn starch
  • 1 ½ cups water
  • ¼ tsp kosher salt
  • 3 tbsp butter
  • ½ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice 2-3 lemons
  • 1 tbsp lemon zest finely grated

Meringue

  • 5 egg whites
  • 150 g sugar
  • ½ tsp cream of tartar
  • ¼ tsp kosher salt

Instructions

Crust

  • Cut the butter into small pieces and place in the freezer for 15 minutes. Also place 2 identical pie pans if you have them in the freezer.
  • In a food processor combine the flour and salt. Pulse to combine.
  • Remove the butter from the freezer. Add to the food processor. Pulse about 8-10 times to combine. Pulses should be about 1-2 seconds. No large pats of butter should remain.
  • Add in the cold water and pulse 5 times.
  • Lay out some plastic wrap and place the dough on it. Form a disc with the dough and wrap well with the plastic wrap. Place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
  • Remove from the fridge. Allow to soften enough to work the dough. If you try to work with it while its too cold it could fall apart or tear. Don't wait too long or it will be to soft. You want to roll it out when it starts to cool without having to apply too much pressure.
  • Dust your work surface with flour and roll out into a round about ⅛ inch thick.
  • Remove the pie pans from the freezer. Here is how Alton Brown describes the process in his words "Lay the dough, sandwiched between parchment sheets, over the inverted pan and peel back the top sheet of parchment. Place the second pan over the inverted pan and press down gently to shape the dough. Flip both pans over, lift the top one out, peel away the other piece of parchment, set the pie pan back into the other. Flip the pan/dough sandwich over and trim away excess dough. Freeze the dough sandwiched between the pans for at least 30 minutes."
  • Set your oven to 300 degrees. Once the dough has been in the freezer for 30 minutes immediately place into the enter of the oven and bake for 1 hour.
  • Then raise the temperature to 375 and bake until browned about another 10-15 minutes. Cool.
  • After about 20 minute of cooling, remove the inner pie pan.

Filling

  • Whisk all the egg yolks in a mixing bowl.
  • In a saucepan combine, the sugar, water, corn starch, and kosher salt. Set over medium heat nad bring to a simmer.
  • Immediately whisk in the butter, continue to whisk until it comes to a boil and all the butter is melted in.
  • Remove from the heat. Slowly add a little bit of the hot mixture to the eggs. Take your time and go slow, adding a little bit at a time and fully incorporating in before adding the next little bit until ⅓ of the hot mixture has been added to the eggs. You are trying to raise the temperature of the eggs without scrambling them.
  • Add the egg mixture to the saucepan. Add in the lemon juice and the lemon zest.
  • Return to the stove over medium low heat. Keep stirring until you reach a boil and cook for 1 minute before pulling it from the heat.
  • You can directly add the filling to the cooled pie crust or you can allow it to cool more before adding if you are concerned that the filling isn't thick enough.
  • Allow the filling to cool for 90 minutes before adding the meringue. Add the filling to the crust before starting the meringue.

Meringue

  • In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the egg whites, sugar, cream of tartar, and salt. Don't turn the mix on, just combine it with a whisk. You don't have to use the mixer bowl, but if you do it save you from using another bowl.
  • In a pot large enough to fit the bowl without it touching the bottom, add enough water that it won't touch the bottom of the bowl. You are making a double boiler.
  • Bring the water to a boil. Keep whisking the mixture in the bowl while monitoring the temperature. You want to hit 165 degrees without going over.
  • Once you hit the 165 degree mark, remove the bowl, dry the bottom of the bowl with a towel and place it on your stand mixer.
  • Beat on high for 1 minute until a soft peak forms when you dip the whisk attachment of the mixer into the meringue.
  • Reduce the speed down to medium and whip until stiff peaks form (you turn it upside and the peak doesn't fall). This should take around 5 minutes or so. Be careful not to over whip, stop if you need to it check it. Never leave while it's whipping.
  • Immediately spread on top of the pie. If you have a torch, slowly brown the top of the meringue. Practice caution and don't do this near anything or anyone else.