The checkered history of chess pie

I saw this the other day on a Reddit post..."I made six chess pies for Thanksgiving and I'll be leaving Wednesday..."

It dawned on me that there are those who have never heard of chess pie and I hasten to assure one and all that it has nothing to do with a board game.  And in the time it takes some people to make one move in a game of chess, you can whip up a chess pie, and pay tribute to Martha Washington, who made a lot of them because her husband had wooden teeth and did not like pecan pie sticking to his walnut incisors.

It's a Southern pie. The filling is easy: just eggs, sugar, butter, and a little flour. As with anything from Dixie, some recipes involve cornmeal and/or vinegar, and some add vanilla or lemon or chocolate. 

Where did this pie, which some bakers call a "cheeseless cheesecake," get its name?  You may pick your answer. Some say that chess pie is very close to the English lemon curd pie, and some people pronounce "cheese" like "chess."

I go with the story that says someone was asked what kind of dessert she was whompin' up, and the answer "It's just pie!" was drawled into "jess pie" and then "chess pie."

It's not too late to surprise your family with one for tomorrow! Why not get your recipe from the wife of the father of our country? Karen Hess transcribed "Martha Washington’s Booke of Cookery" just for you!

To make very good cheesecakes without cheese curd

Take a quart of cream, & when it boyles take 14 eggs; If they be very yallow take out 2 or 3 of the youlks; put them into [the] cream when it boyles & keep it with continuall stirring till it be thick like curd. [Then] put into it sugar & currans, of each halfe a pound; ye currans must first be plumpt in faire water; then take a pound of butter & put into the curd a quarter of [that] butter; [then] take a quart of fine flowre, & put [the] resto of [the] butter to it in little bits, with 4 or 5 spoonsfulls of faire water, make [the] paste of it & when it is well mingled beat it on a table & soe roule it out.. Then put [the] curd into [the] paste, first putting therein 2 nutmeggs slyced, a little salt, & a little rosewater; [the] eggs must be well beaten before you put them in; & for [your] paste you may make them up into what fashion you please…”

Much as we love Mrs Washington, we also love Mrs Smith, Sara Lee, and Marie Callender!