roundup

[fox]

Himself's aunt came over from the UK for Thanksgiving and asked for my pecan pie recipe. I've made that pie in the UK twice, once successfully and once not, and the difference was the availability of corn syrup; when I couldn't get it, I tried to cook down brown sugar to substitute, and either I didn't boil off enough of the liquid or it just doesn't behave the same way, because that pie never did set properly. Tasted fine, but it was soup.

So. For a pie whose filling's ingredients are butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, pecans, and dark corn syrup, if you couldn't get corn syrup of any sort, what would you do? I've been thinking about using brown sugar instead of white and golden syrup instead of Karo. (The aunt said "oh no, golden syrup is such a sticky mess," and I had to point out that corn syrup is as well and that's sort of the point.) Any more expert bakers have other thoughts?

Himself is heading out of town for a couple of days this week, so although I usually go to the office Tuesday and Wednesday I'll have to be at home this Wednesday and was waffling about whether to make my second in-office day Monday or Friday. Ultimately decided I might as well get it out of the way, and then promptly forgot about it, so when he woke me up this morning and said "Weren't you thinking of going in today?" all I could say was UGH. But I did, I got up and dressed for going in and got all the way to the train and went to lock up the scooter and realized I didn't have my lock, because I didn't have my bag, which meant I couldn't even haul the thing in with me and charge it at the office because I didn't have my computer. Sigh. Scooted back home, picked up the work bag, and did it all again.

I've been fighting off a sinus cold thing and I think it's making me stupid.

Comments

[conuly]

Google suggests maple syrup will make an adequate substitute, but I don't know that that's any easier to source in the UK.

More googling reveals that there are recipes for pecan pie that rely on golden syrup. It's not unheard of in the South, so that makes sense.

[fox]

She asked about maple syrup, but by me that would make a maple pecan pie - probably delicious but a little further distant, flavor profile–wise, than I'd be interested in going. (A few years ago when I was trying to self-diagnose some food allergies or sensitivities I made one with molasses instead of corn syrup, and what we got was . . . a molasses pecan pie. Likewise.)

I'ma try the brown-sugar-and-Lyles version once the leftover Thanksgiving pie is gone. Maybe for Christmas.

[ellen_fremedon]

It's not the same as a corn syrup-based one, but Tasting History did a recipe from before corn syrup was a thing.

[fox]

The picture of the corn syrup one that starts that video horrifies me. Mine does have a corn syrup base but at least it has nuts in it as well as on it. It seems that mine is sort of in between this and what he seems to think of as "regular" pecan pie, in that mine does have chopped nuts in the filling - 3x the chopped nuts he calls for, in fact, and I still don't think that's enough. Anyway this has milk and flour where I have corn syrup and butter, so my filling is already thick and sticky without cooking up the custard before filling the pie shell (which mine is not blind baked, and it's a regular pie plate rather than a tart, which mine would overflow), though it does also contain eggs so it's not not a custard. Hmm.

He does use brown sugar, though, so I'm vaguely optimistic about my brown-sugar-and-Lyles version. (Hmm, mine also doesn't call for meringue, but who needs meringue.)