Vinegar Pie (19th c.)
intro
A tangy, custardy pioneer-era pantry pie, using apple cider vinegar to mimic bright lemon flavor when fresh fruit was scarce in cold months.
Ingredients
Steps
Prep crust and preheat oven
Preheat your oven to 180°C (350°F, conventional oven setting). Fit the unbaked 9-inch all-butter pie crust into a standard 23cm (9-inch) pie dish, crimp the top edges as desired, and prick the bottom crust 6 to 8 times with a fork to prevent air bubbles. Line the crust with parchment paper and fill with pie weights or dried beans if available, then par-bake on the middle oven rack for 10 minutes. Remove the parchment and weights, then set the crust aside on a wire rack while you prepare the filling.
Mix dry filling ingredients
In a 2L (2 quart) medium mixing bowl, whisk together the 200g (1 cup) granulated sugar, 16g (2 tbsp) all-purpose flour, 1.3g (½ tsp) ground cinnamon, 0.6g (¼ tsp) freshly grated nutmeg, and 1.5g (¼ tsp) fine sea salt for 20 seconds until fully blended, with no visible clumps of spice or flour.
Blend wet filling ingredients
Add the 3 room-temperature large eggs to the dry ingredient mixture, whisking vigorously for 30 seconds until completely smooth. Stir in the cooled melted 57g (4 tbsp) unsalted butter, 60ml (¼ cup) raw apple cider vinegar, and 240ml (1 cup) cold water, whisking continuously for 1 full minute until the custard base is uniformly pale golden, with no streaks of egg or separated butter remaining.
Fill par-baked pie crust
Set the par-baked pie crust (still in its dish) on a rimmed metal baking sheet to catch any spills during baking. Slowly pour the smooth custard filling directly into the warm crust, stopping 6mm (¼ inch) below the crimped edge to avoid overflow as the pie bakes.
Bake pie until set
Carefully transfer the baking sheet with the filled pie to the middle rack of the preheated 180°C (350°F) oven. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until the outer 5cm (2 inches) of the filling is fully set, and the central 5cm (2 inch) area jiggles softly like firmly set Jell-O. If the crust edges turn deep golden brown before the 30 minute mark, cover them with thin strips of aluminum foil to prevent burning.
Cool pie fully before serving
Remove the baked pie from the oven and transfer it to a wire cooling rack. Let it rest at room temperature for 2 full hours to allow the custard to set fully, then chill in the refrigerator for 1 additional hour for the cleanest slices. Do not cut the pie while warm, as the custard will be runny.
Tips
2.Always use room temperature eggs for the filling: cold eggs will not emulsify as smoothly, leading to lumpy custard and uneven setting.
3.Resist the urge to overbake the pie: the soft jiggle in the center is normal, as residual heat will finish setting the custard as it cools; overbaking causes grainy, curdled filling.
OMG, I made this for our Sunday family dinner last week and everyone went back for seconds! I was so nervous a vinegar pie would taste weird, but it’s perfectly tangy and sweet, like a lemon pie but way cozier? Total game changer for my fall dessert rotation. Cook time was exactly an hour like the recipe said, too, which made planning so easy!
This tastes exactly like the vinegar pie my great-aunt used to make when I was a kid growing up in rural Missouri! I haven’t had it in probably 60 years and I teared up a little when I took the first bite. So easy to throw together too, no fancy equipment needed at all.
Loved how low-effort this is for such a unique dessert! I prepped the filling while my casserole was in the oven for our weeknight meal, popped the pie in, and it was done right when we finished dinner. Only note: I used apple cider vinegar instead of white vinegar and it added a really nice warm depth. I’m knocking off one star because I wish the recipe mentioned you can use different vinegars so I didn’t panic when I realized I was out of white vinegar mid-prep!
Brought this to our neighborhood block party potluck last weekend and everyone was asking for the recipe! Multiple people guessed it was some fancy lemon custard pie, they were so shocked when I told them it was vinegar pie. 10/10, will be making this for every fall gathering from now on.
My kids were absolutely clowning on me when I told them I was making a pie with vinegar. Said it sounded like a prank food. By the end of the night they were fighting over the last slice and begging me to make it again for their 4-H bake sale. Kids are so predictable sometimes lmao.
I collect 19th century cookbooks so I was so excited to see this recipe! I’ve tried a few other vinegar pie recipes before and they were either too tangy or too custardy, but this one is perfectly balanced. The spice ratio is spot on, not too much nutmeg, just enough warmth.
I swapped the regular pie crust for a gluten-free almond flour crust and this turned out SO good! The tangy filling pairs so well with the nuttiness of the crust. I was worried the filling wouldn’t set right with my crust swap, but it was perfectly sliceable after cooling.
Wait this is the easiest pie I’ve ever made in my tiny dorm kitchen? I only have a cheap toaster oven and a hand me down pie pan, and it turned out perfect on the first try. Spent like 10 minutes mixing the filling, waited an hour, and had a whole pie to share with my roommates. No fancy ingredients either, I already had all the stuff in my pantry!
I was a professional baker for 40 years and I’d never tried making vinegar pie before, color me impressed. The texture is so smooth, the tang cuts the sweetness perfectly, and it’s so simple even a new baker can nail it. I’ll be adding this to my rotation when I bake for my grandkids.
SO good! I added a little extra cinnamon and a dollop of freshly whipped cream on top and it was the perfect cozy dessert for a rainy October day. My whole house smelled amazing while it was baking, like warm spice and sweet custard. 10/10, no notes.
This was my first time ever baking a pie from scratch and I was so nervous I’d mess it up! The instructions were so clear and straightforward, and it turned out looking like it came from a bakery. My partner thought I bought it from the little pie shop downtown, I was so proud of myself.
I grew up eating vinegar pie at church potlucks in Alabama and I haven’t found a recipe that tastes right since I moved up north. This one is dead on! That perfect sweet-tangy custard, the flaky crust, it’s just like I remember. I’ll be making this for our church homecoming next month.
Made this for my weekly meal prep to have as a little treat after dinners all week, and it held up perfectly in the fridge for 5 days! The flavors actually got better the longer it sat, which is a huge win for busy parents. My 7 year old asked for it in her school lunch, which I never would’ve expected.
Full transparency: I thought my wife was crazy when she said she was making a pie with vinegar. I was fully prepared to fake a smile and eat one slice to be nice. Let me tell you, I ate half the pie in one sitting. This is going in our permanent dessert rotation, no questions asked.
Test ran this for our Thanksgiving dessert table this year because I wanted something a little more unique than the usual pumpkin and pecan. It’s absolutely going on the menu! It’s light enough that people will have room for it after all the heavy Thanksgiving food, but still has that warm, cozy fall vibe.
Cut this into little slices and wrapped them up to bring on our fall day hike last weekend, and it was the perfect trail snack! It held up great in the cooler, wasn’t too messy to eat on the go, and gave us the perfect little sugar boost for the last mile of the trail. Only reason I’m not giving it 5 is because it was a tiny bit sticky when I ate it without a fork, which is totally my bad for packing light! Who knew old-fashioned pie was such a great hiking snack?