Meme’s sister, who died long before I was born, was named Julia. She also liked to cook. Meme used to tease me that I was a lot like Julia in that we both would dirty every pot in the kitchen when we cooked. This is hands-down my favorite dessert. Mama makes it almost every time I come home to visit. When I was in culinary school, I took a look at the recipe and was certain with my newly learned techniques I could improve the consistency of the pudding. Wrong. It was a disaster, and the pudding mixture never congealed—which brings to mind the expression, “If it’s not broke, don’t fix it.”

　　

Ingredients

makes one 9-inch pie

　　All-American Pie Crust (page 258), fully baked

　　1 cup granulated sugar

　　2 cups whole milk

　　3 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

　　1/4 cup cocoa powder

　　3 large eggs, separated

　　1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

　　Pinch of fine sea salt

　　1 teaspoon cream of tartar

　　2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar

　　

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 500°F.

　　

Step 2

To prepare the pie filling, in a saucepan, combine the 1 cup of granulated sugar and 1 cup of the milk. Set aside.

　　

Step 3

In a bowl, combine the remaining 1 cup of milk, the flour, and cocoa powder in a bowl and whisk thoroughly to combine. (Mama uses a shaker and shakes the mixture until it is well combined and frothy.) Set aside.

　　

Step 4

Heat the saucepan with the milk-sugar mixture over medium-high heat until simmering. Slowly add the milk-flour mixture and stir to combine. Bring to a boil. Add the egg yolks, whisking constantly, until it returns to a boil. Once the mixture comes to a boil, immediately add the vanilla and remove it from the heat.

　　

Step 5

Pour the mixture into the baked pie crust. Set aside.

　　

Step 6

To make the meringue topping, place the egg whites in a nonreactive bowl with a pinch of salt. Add the cream of tartar and, using a hand-held mixer, whisk on high speed until foamy. Sift over the confectioners’ sugar a little at a time and whisk until the whites are glossy and hold stiff peaks when the whisk is lifted.

　　

Step 7

To finish the pie, spoon the meringue over the pie, making sure it touches the edges of the pie crust. Bake until golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Move to a rack to cool completely and set, then serve.

　　From Bon Appétit, Y’all: Recipes and Stories From Three Generations of Southern Cooking, © 2008 by Virginia Willis. Reprinted by permission of Ten Speed Press. Buy the full book from Amazon or Abe Books.