Vinegar pie is bright, acidic and sweet — not at all what you’d expect

In 1990, I taught Jennifer Jason Leigh how to make a vinegar pie for her role in “Miami Blues.” She had never made a pie before, but she wanted to look like she knew exactly what she was doing. It’s a small but memorable detail that helps capture her character’s quirky, sweet, and somewhat naïve personality, especially alongside Alec Baldwin’s much darker character.

Vinegar pie itself is a real old-fashioned Southern dessert — one of the so-called “desperation pies,” like chess pie and buttermilk pie. These pies became popular during the Great Depression, when fresh ingredients were often hard to come by. Made from simple pantry staples (vinegar, sugar, flour, eggs, and butter), it was meant to mimic the flavor of lemon pie.

Despite what you might expect, vinegar pie isn’t sour. It’s actually sweet, lightly tangy, and creamy, with a subtle lemony flavor. And if you don’t have time to make your own dough, a store-bought crust works just fine.

Because the filling is custard-like, pouring it into a raw crust can leave the bottom soggy. A short pre-bake helps the crust stay crisp. Place the dough in the pie pan, prick the bottom lightly with a fork, and put it in the freezer to help prevent shrinking while you prepare the filling. Then line the crust with parchment paper or aluminum foil, fill it with pie weights or dried beans, and bake at 350°F for 10-15 minutes. Remove the weights and bake for an additional 10 minutes, until the crust is light golden brown. Pour in the vinegar pie filling and bake as usual.

If you watch the film, take a look at the credits and you’ll find my name listed as “food consultant.”

Vinegar Pie

Adapted from Retro Recipes: Vintage Dishes with a Modern Twist by Robert Hicks, published by The Countryman Press, a division of W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. ($35.00).

Vinegar pie is bright, acidic and sweet and Martini & Rossi Prosecco DOC ($16.99) matches this intensity beautifully. The notes of apple, thyme and flavors of honey cleanse the palate between bites.

Author Hicks, who lives in South Florida, writes, “I like to top this pie with freshly made whipped cream or a dusting of confectioners’ sugar.”

For the pie crust

1 cup all-purpose flour

⅓ cup cake flour

½ teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons sugar

½ cup unsalted butter, frozen and grated on the coarse side of a box grater

3 tablespoons vegetable shortening, chilled

5 to 6 tablespoons ice water

For the filling

4 large eggs plus 1 large egg yolk, beaten

1½ cups sugar

¼ cup butter, melted and cooled

1½ tablespoons apple cider vinegar

1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

To make the pie crust, sift together the all-purpose flour, cake flour, and salt into a food processor, then add the sugar, butter, and shortening. Pulse several times while slowly drizzling in the water through the feed tube until the dough just begins to form a ball. Transfer to a bowl and refrigerate for 30 minutes to hydrate the dough and chill the butter.

Roll the dough out to about 1/4-inch thickness. Place the dough in a 9-inch pie pan, pressing it gently into the corners. Prick the base of the pie crust several times with a fork and place in the freezer for 15 minutes. Line the crust with parchment paper or aluminum foil, fill it with pie weights or dried beans, and bake at 350°F for 10-15 minutes. Remove the weights and bake for an additional 10 minutes, until the crust is light golden brown. Set aside to cool.

To make the filling, in a large bowl, combine the eggs and egg yolk, sugar, melted butter, vinegar, and vanilla and mix well. Pour into the cooled pie shell and bake for 40 to 50 minutes, or until the custard base is golden brown and has a slight wobble; it should reach an internal temperature of 170ºF.

Allow to cool completely, then slice and serve.

Yield: Serves 8