Sharing Recipes

Some people have a feel for baking and some don’t, it’s as simple as that. Kitchen skills can, of course, be learned, but for many who yearn to excel in the baking department it can be a painful process! I learned pretty early on in my career that cakes were not my forte and steered clear of them, if the cakes I made weren’t up to scratch why waste my time? I was in the business of selling my baked goods, and it was therefore important to be aware of my limitations; anything I sold had to please my customers enough that they would come back for more, so I concentrated on making what I did best.

I didn’t operate a commercial bakery, but I DID bake large quantities at a time. I turned out several dozen loaves of bread each day, big loads of cinnamon buns and muffins, huge loads of cookies and, of course, more than just a couple of lime pies. Very few ingredients were measured as I baked; butter, sugar, eggs, flour, salt and spices were all added as the dough mixer whirred, and the dough was ready when my fingertips decided it was right. I baked by feel, and this made it very difficult for me to share my recipes. I could tell people which ingredients were used, but if they needed to know measurements I was unable to make them happy.

One year, when the restaurant was still fairly new, my aunt and uncle visited Bequia and fell in love with the Pizzeria’s lime pie. My uncle in particular raved about it, so before they left my aunt sought me out to ask for the recipe. I explained that the lime pie was easy to make, but the real secret to its taste was due to the Bequia limes. I had attempted to make the pie in Canada and it had been disappointing; the imported limes at the supermarket had been weak in comparison to those I was used to, not nearly as flavourful, and in my opinion the pies made in Canada were inferior to those I made at the Pizzeria. Using extra lime juice to compensate wasn’t the answer, it had made the pies too runny, but my aunt was adamant that I write down the recipe anyway.

The recipe for the filling was fairly simple, I already knew how many egg yolks went into each pie and how much sweetened condensed milk was needed. The lime juice was added to taste, my aunt would have to figure out how tart she wanted the pie by tasting as she went along. The topping was easy too, just the egg whites whisked with some white sugar and cream of tartar. The short-bread pie crust, although simple, was harder to explain. The ingredients were simple enough, just butter, flour and a drop of almond essence, but I couldn’t tell her how much flour to use. I always creamed the butter and essence first, then added flour until my fingers told me to stop.

This concept of not measuring any of the ingredients floored my aunt somewhat, she had always followed recipes carefully when baking. I explained that I usually made at least 6 pies at a time, and that stopping to measure the amount of flour I was using had simply never occurred to me. I told her the crust dough had to be spreadable so that it could be pressed around the sides and bottoms of the pie pans, pricked with a fork, then baked at 350 degrees until golden. If too much flour was added the crust would be tough, if too little it would shrink from the sides of the pans.

This worried my aunt. How was she supposed to know if she had added too much or too little flour? Wracking my rather over-worked brain, I advised her to add flour until the dough was spreadable, using peanut butter cookie dough as an example. If it was the same consistency as peanut butter cookie dough it could be shaped in the pie pan, pricked with a fork, then baked successfully. 

Years later I saw my aunt while visiting Ontario. She mentioned that she had tried to make my lime pie several times with little success, the results had been rather disappointing. I figured the lack of Bequia limes had been the culprit and said as much. Shaking her head, my aunt said;

“No, your uncle thinks I was using too much peanut butter in the crust, it just didn’t taste anything like yours!”.

Peanut butter!?  With lime filling!?  Eeewwww! Some people have a feel for baking and some don’t, it’s as simple as that!