{"id":7798,"date":"2017-11-02T09:27:55","date_gmt":"2017-11-02T13:27:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gastronomyatbu.com\/?p=7798"},"modified":"2018-03-28T17:49:04","modified_gmt":"2018-03-28T21:49:04","slug":"cookbooks-history-boston-cream-pie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/gastronomyblog\/2017\/11\/02\/cookbooks-history-boston-cream-pie\/","title":{"rendered":"Cookbooks & History: Boston Cream Pie"},"content":{"rendered":"

Students in Cookbooks and History (MET ML 630), directed by Dr. Karen Metheny, researched and recreated a historical recipe to bring in to class. They were instructed to note the challenges they faced, as well as define why they selected their recipe and why it appealed to them. Here is the eighth essay in this series, written by\u00a0Kaitlin Lee.\u00a0<\/em>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Does Boston have a more iconic dessert than the Boston cream pie? The Parker House Hotel, now the Omni Parker House, claims to have invented the dessert for their opening night in 1856. Today, local icons, including Legal Seafoods, Flour Bakery, and Mike\u2019s Pastry, all offer their take. Jackie O and JFK celebrated their engagement at the Parker House with a Boston Cream Pie. Even Dunkin\u2019 Donuts has a Boston cream donut, and it\u2019s one of their most popular flavors.<\/p>\n

Although it\u2019s *technically* a cake, most of us think of Boston cream pie as a vanilla cake and custard sandwich topped with chocolate ganache. I started my recipe recreation with some research. I decided to look through the Boston Globe<\/em> archives to recreate the first recipe for Boston Cream Pie published for home bakers in Boston. I found several recipes for \u201cBoston Cream Cakes,\u201d which resembled cream puffs or small, cupcake-like pastries filled with a layer of custard from the late nineteenth century. To my surprise, none of the early recipes for \u201cBoston Cream\u201d desserts included the chocolate topping. The earliest recipe for Boston cream pie<\/em> I found in the Boston Daily Globe <\/em>was published in 1924:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Here is a nice recipe<\/em><\/p>\n

Crust \u2013 Three eggs beaten separately. 1 cup sugar, 1 \u00bd cups sifted flour, 2 teaspoons<\/em>
\n baking powder, 2 tablespoons milk or water. Divide batter in half and bake on pie tins. When cold, split in half, spread cream between. Sprinkle top with powdered sugar. Cream \u2013 Put pint of milk in double boiler, break 2 eggs in dish; add cup sugar and 1\/3 cup flour. Beat well, stir into milk, add teaspoon butter. Flavor with vanilla or lemon.<\/em><\/p>\n

The instructions are sparse, and like other recipes from the era, it omits the chocolate topping. \u201cHere is a nice recipe.\u201d Encouraging. We\u2019re off to a good start. Although it\u2019s listed second, I made the cream the day before class so it could cool and set. Since I don\u2019t have a double boiler, I fashioned a makeshift one with a saucepan and a metal bowl. I\u2019ve made a pastry cream or two, and knew to take the pan off the heat once the mixture thickened and coated the back of the spoon. Although I\u2019d usually strain the cream, I resisted since the recipe didn\u2019t mention it. Feeling bold, I defied the written instructions and flavored the cream with vanilla extract AND lemon zest.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The day of class, I made the cake. Step one \u2013 preheat the oven. But to what temperature? I picked 350 F because it\u2019s a common oven temperature and I had nothing to lose. Then to \u201cThree eggs beaten separately.\u201d Separated into whites and yolks or separate from the dry ingredients? I found some other Boston Cream Pie recipes from that era that separated the whites and yolks and had very similar ingredient proportions to the recipe I picked. I went with my gut and beat the egg whites into stiff peaks, beat the yolks and the sugar, and folded the whole mess together with the dry ingredients. I couldn\u2019t find two round pans that were the same size, so into one pan, not two, it went. I placed the cake in the oven and after 18 minutes I began testing the cake every three minutes with a cake tester for doneness. I took it out after 24 minutes and let it cool.<\/p>\n

I cut the cake in half and covered the split half with a layer of cream. The cream was runnier than I expected and by the time it was ready to serve for class it oozed out in a not-unpleasant fashion. The cake, which had no flavoring aside from sugar, was plain and a little dry. But the cream, despite its loose texture, was delicious! This recipe was super short and expected the reader to know how to make a cake and how to cook with a double boiler. At times, I felt I was doing a technical challenge on the Great British Bake Off. I doubt they\u2019ll be serving this version at the Parker House any time soon, but it was pretty tasty.<\/p>\n

\n

Anonymous. 1924. “Boston Cream Pie.”\u00a0Boston Daily Globe, <\/em>March 9, 1924. ProQuest.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Students in Cookbooks and History (MET ML 630), directed by Dr. Karen Metheny, researched and recreated a historical recipe to bring in to class. They were instructed to note the challenges they faced, as well as define why they selected their recipe and why it appealed to them. Here is the eighth essay in this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14625,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10,15,22,24,27],"tags":[121,209,357,391],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/gastronomyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7798"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/gastronomyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/gastronomyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/gastronomyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14625"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/gastronomyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7798"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/gastronomyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7798\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8163,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/gastronomyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7798\/revisions\/8163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/gastronomyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/gastronomyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/gastronomyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}