Lemon meringue pie

Lemon meringue pie is a type of baked pie, usually served for dessert, made with a crust usually made of shortcrust pastry, lemon custard filling and a fluffy meringue topping. Lemon meringue pie is prepared with a bottom pie crust, with the meringue directly on top of the lemon filling. No upper crust is used, as in a cherry pie.

History

Lemon flavored custards, puddings and pies have been enjoyed since Medieval times, but meringue was perfected in the 17th century. Lemon meringue pie, as it is known today, is a 19th-century product. The earliest recorded recipe was attributed to Alexander Frehse, a Swiss baker from Romandie.

Preparation

The lemon custard is usually prepared with egg yolks, lemon zest and juice, sugar, and, optionally, starch. This gives it a texture similar to that of a sturdy pudding. The meringue, which includes well beaten egg whites and sugar, is cooked on top of the pie filling. As the meringue bakes, air bubbles trapped inside the protein of the egg whites will expand and swell. However, if the egg whites are beaten too much, or if a tiny amount of fat is allowed to contaminate the mixture, then the proteins will not be able to form the correct molecular structure when cooked, and the meringue may collapse when cooked. The meringue can be beaten into either soft or stiff peaks. The temperature the pie is baked at and the method by which sugar is added also determines the texture and durability of the meringue.

Haunted (Poe album)

Haunted is the second album by American singer/songwriter Poe, released in 2000 (see 2000 in music) after a five-year hiatus from her debut album Hello in 1995. The self-produced album was created as a tribute to her father, and counterpart to her brother Mark Z. Danielewski's novel House of Leaves.

History

Haunted found Poe combining traditional pop notions with electronic, dance and hard rock music. A critical success and largely adored by her existing fanbase, it nonetheless flopped commercially, largely due to the manner in which it was marketed. The song "Hey Pretty" was released as a promo single, but Poe's vocals had been replaced with a chapter reading from her brother, as alternative radio of 2001 was not very willing to play female artists. It reached #13 on Billboard's US Modern Rock chart. The music video for the song was deemed too racy for MTV (it showed Poe writhing around in mud in nothing but a bra.) A follow up promo single, "Walk the Walk", was released because it had been chosen as the theme song to a new TV drama called Girls Club. However, the show was canceled after two episodes. "Wild" was released as a third single, garnering some radio play in the Chicago area. The single was never released commercially, but featured a shorter radio mix in addition to an acoustic/rock version of the song. The title track was used as the theme song to the film Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2, a box-office failure. The commercial failure of Poe's second album contributed to the loss of her distribution contract with Atlantic Records.