Tag Archives: Vera Stout Anderson

Grandma’s Lemon Sponge Pie or Chess Pie?

Lemon pies

Grandma Vera’s Lemon Sponge pie squares off with Joy of Cooking’s Lemon Chess pie.

When a neighbor offered to let me pick as many lemons as I wanted from his lemon tree, I went a little crazy.  As I juiced those lemons on a 55-year-old electric  juicer, I pondered how I would use these lemons. I wanted to try something other than the standard custard lemon pie with meringue. The winners were: Lemon Bars, Lemon Chess pie, and Grandma Vera Anderson’s Lemon Sponge Pie. The two pies held a competition. By the way, I would have made my favorite lemon pie with whole slices of lemon rather than a custard filling. But these lemons were small, and seed-filled.  Not appropriate for that pie. So let the Bake-Off begin.

Read below the recipes what the taste-testers had to say.

electric juicer

Proctor-Silex electric juicer 1960

 

 

I got my electric juicer for a wedding present, and other than the fact that the strainer insert melted when it dropped onto the heating element in the dishwasher, the juicer is still kicking.  It is much easier than juicing by hand, and I have no need for those enormous juicers that are all the fashion now.

I wish I could find another one of these, just like the vintage version. (Gives me pause to realize something I have used personally all its life is now vintage.)

 

Perfect Pie Crust

Both these recipes were made with my not-so-secret recipe for perfect pie crust, but with the chess pie the crust turned cumbly and more like a cookie crust. All that butter and those eggs. However, the pie dough was as easy as ever to make and manipulate. So if you haven’t tried it, take a look at the most popular recipe on this site–perfect pie crust.

 

Lemon Chess Pie

In Joy of Cooking, I found a recipe for Chess Pie, followed by a version that makes it Lemon Chess Pie. It is described as having a “sparkling translucency and a smooth, soft, and melting texture.”   That wasn’t the way I saw it. It was translucent, but so sticky sweet I could only eat two bites. Others who ate it actually loved it, though.

Basic Chess Pie (without lemon) comes from the Southern states, where it is a staple. Although I searched and searched, I could find no definitive explanation of the name. Several theories, but no one knows for sure from whence came the name for this sweet Southern treat.  The Joy of Cooking recipe diverges from traditional Chess Pie recipes I found on line, particularly in the method of dotting butter on top instead of mixing it in.

Recipe follows.

Lemon Chess Pie

Serves 10
Prep time 25 minutes
Cook time 45 minutes
Total time 1 hours, 10 minutes
Allergy Egg, Milk, Wheat
Dietary Vegetarian
Meal type Dessert
Misc Child Friendly, Serve Cold
From book Joy of cooking.
This recipe for Chess Pie from Joy of cooking is very rich. You will want to serve it in small slices.

Ingredients

  • 1 egg (large)
  • 4 egg yolks
  • 1 1/3 cup sugar
  • zest of one lemon
  • 1/3 cup heavy cream
  • 1/3 cup lemon juice
  • 6 tablespoons butter
  • 1 pie crust, baked

Directions

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Warm pie crust in oven while you are mixing filling.
2. Mix egg, egg yolks, sugar and lemon zest in bowl and whisk (Joy of Cooking suggests setting the bowl in a skillet with simmering water as you whisk.)
3. Whisk in liquids
4. Lemon Chess Pie
Pour into pie shell and dot the butter over the top. (The dotted butter resulted in a freckled top for me. Alternately, you may follow the more traditional method of mixing softened butter into the sugar before step one.)
5. Bake at 350 degrees, until edges are firm and center quiers like Jell-o when shaken gently. ( Joy of Cooking called for 45 minutes at 250 degrees, but I don't think that is warm enough. My oven took over an hour and I raised the temperature to 350 for the last 15 minutes.)
6. Top with meringue if you wish.

Grandma Vera’s Lemon Sponge Pie

Unfortunately, I have far too few recipes from my grandmother, but I have had this recipe for lemon sponge pie in my recipe box for years, and just never got around to trying it out. In checking for other versions of this pie, I found an identical recipe on line labeled as a traditional Amish recipe. I do not know where Grandma got the recipe, but the probable Amish source did not surprise me.  Killbuck, Ohio, where Grandma lived, lies in an area of Ohio settled by German and Amish immigrants,and familiar foods there tend to come from either England or Germany.

I doubled the recipe for my larger pie pan and got a bonus of two dishes of custard. I also reduced the sugar a bit, knowing that grandma had an insatiable sweet tooth.  I prefer to emphasize the lemon in lemon desserts.

When I make a dish with egg whites folded in, I always want to call all my friends and relatives to see it the moment it comes out of the oven. Because they beautiful pillowy effect is going to disappear in a minute.

Lemon Sponge Pie

Serves 8-10
Prep time 25 minutes
Cook time 30 minutes
Total time 55 minutes
Allergy Egg, Milk, Wheat
Dietary Vegetarian
Meal type Dessert
Misc Child Friendly, Pre-preparable, Serve Cold
A vintage Lemon Sponge Pie from my grandmother's recipe.

Ingredients

  • 1 pie shell, unbaked
  • 3 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 tablespoons butter (melted)
  • 2 eggs, separated
  • 2 heaped tablespoons flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup milk
  • lemon peel (from one lemon (lemon zest, grated fine))

Directions

1. Put pie shell in refrigerator while you prepare the filling.
2. Mix sugar and melted butter.
3. Whisk in egg yolks
4. .Stir in half the milk, add the flour, then stir in the rest of milk
5. In clean bowl with clean beaters on electric mixer, beat egg whites until stiff.
6. Mix the lemon juice and peel into the batter. Then fold in the egg whites until there are no streaks of white.
7. Pour into pie shell and bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Raise temperature to 375 degrees for another 15 minutes.

Note

The recipe as Grandma wrote it looked a bit small for my 9" pie pans, so I doubled the recipe. That way it yielded one large pie and two dessert dishes of custard. The only thing I did not double was the sugar. I like the lemon to shine through, so I used 1 1/2 cups of sugar instead of the full 2 cups. Your call.

Grandmother's instructions for making the pie were simply, "Cream together like cake. Add milk and fold in egg whites beaten stiff." I went into more detail than Grandma, just in case readers needed more help.

Grandma calls for "lemon peel", which we nowadays call lemon zest. That's what she meant--just the yellow part of the lemon peel, grated fine. I don't recall ever hearing the word "zest" in Ohio when I was growing up--it was always "lemon peel" and everyone knew that didn't include the bitter white lining of the peeling.

Don't be alarmed when the pie raises very high and then quickly sinks. That's the nature of the beast with puddings with so much beaten egg white.

The Votes Are In

Male #1: The sponge pie doesn’t taste lemony enough. It is not nearly as good as the other pie. The crust on the other pie was delicious. [As I mentioned above, it was actually the same crust on both pies, but  the ingredients made the Chess Pie crust more sugary.]

Female #1: The Sponge Pie sort of had the texture of a cheesecake, but lighter. But the Chess Pie was more lemony. I liked the crust of the Chess Pie–it was crispier and thinner. Definitely preferred the Chess Pie. It was like a Lemon Bar cookie.

Male #2: Definitely preferred the Chess Pie.  The crust was better and it tasted more strongly of lemons.  The texture of the Sponge Pie looked nice, but it was a let down after the Chess Pie. There really was no comparison.

Female #2: Preferred the Chess Pie.  Both were good, but I liked the calories (ha,ha) in the Chess pie. [the sweetness] The Sponge Pie had a tangy, lemony aftertaste which I enjoyed. The Sponge Pie was kind of like eating cheesecake, with a lemon flavor.

So there you have it. Sorry, Grandma Vera, I’m the only person who actually preferred your pie. I thought the Chess pie was cloyingly sweet (you would have loved it!). I would have preferred a stronger lemon flavor in the Sponge Pie but it would take some experimenting to see how to get that without messing up the texture.

Apple Pie Flavored Applesauce in Herloom Glass Bowl

Apples are such a mainstay of American cooking, that I have written about several ways to prepare them, but I have not talked about the simplest thing to do with a surplus of apples–make homemade applesauce. My grandmother (Vera Stout Anderson) cooked apples frequently. So it is only fitting that I follow the #52 Ancestors theme of the week, and serve the applesauce in Grandma’s pressed glass bowl.

Grandma had an old apple tree on the back of her Killbuck Ohio property and the apples were tiny but tasty, so although I don’t recall seeing her pick them, I suspect that some of those delicious stewed apples she made came from that tree. (I tinkered with that recipe, too, adding molasses instead of sugar.)

A Basket of Apples

I found a way to give my applesauce a little twist in flavor that makes it taste just like apple pie. Yum! Warning: This is a recipe where you have to trust your taste buds. Every variety of apple has a different amount of sugar, and even within varieties the sugar level will vary from month to month, so there is no way to get it properly seasoned except to taste, add, taste again. Only four ingredients here, with one more optional.

Apple Pie Applesauce

To make one quart plus a bit:

Wash, core, and cut in quarters or eighths about ten to twelve apples. (No need to peel).

Put them in a large saucepan and add water up to about half the height of the apples. If you cover them with water, you’ll just have to boil it away later, losing valuable nutrients.

Heat to a simmer, and simmer until you can easily puncture through the skin with a fork.

Let cool slightly and put in blender, or better yet, use a blender wand to mash them fine. (Poor Grandma, she had to use a potato masher.)

applesauce

A new twist on a vintage recipe served in an heirloom bowl.

Taste for sweetness and add a little sugar if you think it needs it.  Go slowly. You won’t need much sugar, if you want to keep the apple taste.  I added NO sugar to the batch I made with Liberty apples.

Sprinkle some nutmeg over. Taste. Again, this amount needs to be increased very slowly, with lots of tasting to be sure you don’t overdo it.

Finally, the secret ingredient that makes it taste like apple pie–add 1/2 teaspoon or so of vanilla extract.

Should fill a quart jar with maybe some left over.  Chill.

If you want it to taste even more like apple pie, heat the applesauce and add a pat of butter and serve it warm. (I’m making me hungry).

Grandma’s Glass Bowl

Heirloom glass bowl

Side view of Grandma’s glass bowl with scalloped edge

This is definitely not the fanciest antique that I have in my collection, but I love it because I remember it always being used on my Grandma Vera’s table.  It no doubt belonged to her mother, and so I speculate it dates from the late 1800’s. I tried doing a Google Image Search to find out something about this bowl, and while that has worked for other of the artifacts I inherited, I failed to find anything.

Heirloom Glass Bowl

Top down view of grandma’s glass blowl showing the distinctive leaf/petal pattern.

I would welcome any information anyone might have on this type of bowl. There is no hallmark on the bottom.

Heirloom glass bowl

Upside-down view of Grandma Vera’s Glass Bowl

Isaiah Stout, Truth, Half-Truth and Mysterious Myths

Isaiah Stout (1822-1872)

The long and fascinating story of the Stout family in America starts in 1643 on the East Coast when Richard Stout of Nottinghamshire, England ended a 7-year stint with the English navy and worked briefly as a mercenary for the Dutch in New Amsterdam.

I will tell Richard’s and his wife’s stories later, but they wound up in Monmouth County, New Jersey, and the Stouts married, prospered and multiplied in New Jersey for some generations before spreading over many different states. Because there are so many Stouts, there are many books and many truths, half-truths and mysterious myths to wade through.

My maternal grandmother’s (Vera Stout Anderson)s paternal grandfather was Isaiah Stout. For several generations each family of Stouts had an Isaiah and an Isaac–just to make things interesting for their descendants who might want to trace family history, I tend to think, peevishly.

More realistically the names reflect a strong religious theme that started when the pioneer, Richard Stout, cast his lot with the Anabaptists who differed with my Pilgrim ancestors in that they did not believe in baptizing babies. Since I know that my Great-grandfather William C. Stout was a devout Christian, I have no reason to doubt that his father, Isaiah was as well.

I see an interesting mystery in the biography of Isaiah Stout’s son John Franklin Stout  (brother of my great grandfather William Stout) in the book Omaha, the Gate City and Douglas County Nebraska (1917) it says

“His (John Franklin’s) grandfather Isaac, a native of New Jersey, spent his entire life in that state. His father, Isaiah Stout, was born in  New Jersey 1822 and traveled on foot to Ohio when 17 years of age.”

My great-great grandfather Isaiah’s  grandfather Isaiah (1773-1810) and his son  Isaac (1800-1877), were part of the minority of Stouts who stayed in New Jersey through the 19th century. , perhaps influenced by all those uncles and cousins who were moving west, John Franklin’s father, Isaiah (1822-1872) DID resettle in southern Ohio, and it is quite possible it was when he was 17 and he walked. I know from reading about the wagon trains in that period that most travelers walked alongside the wagons rather than ride.

That would be very interesting, if true, and totally in line with the adventurous spirit of other, earlier Stout men–particularly the pioneer, Richard Stout. But, alas, I have no way of proving that Isaiah Stout (1800-1877) actually walked from New Jersey to Ohio in 1839, at the age of 17. It is also of interest because Isaiah’s next to youngest son, Thomas, left home at 17 to travel west from Ohio. This same bio says that John Franklin Stout is “a representative of an old New Jersey family of Dutch extraction.”  That is partially true. As I pointed out, Richard Stout, the pioneer, was English. However his wife Penelope came from Holland.

Emeline Stout, who made the crazy quilt

Emeline Cochrane Stout

So many Stouts had scattered to the western frontier (which Ohio still was) that I suspect Isaiah was following some uncles or cousins west in 1839. Whatever his motivation for landing in Guernsey County in southern Ohio, five years after he arrived, he had won the heart of 18-year-old Emeline Cochran and the approval of her family who were pioneers in that county. They were married On June 11, 1844 (NOTE: ERROR IN THIS DATE CORRECTED 3/2020) and the following year their first son, my great-grandfather, William Cochran Stout was born.

The History of Guernsey County (published in 1882) holds another mystery.

“The couple lived for some years in Guernsey and Washington counties, and in Clay county, Indiana, lived in Oxford township for ten years and finally settled on a farm one mile west of Middlebourne in Wills township, where Mr. Stout died in 1872.” 

I have heard no family tales of that move to Indiana–although I know there were other Stout families in Indiana. Nor do I have any concrete record of them living in Washington County. I do know where the Stout farm was located in Wills Township, Guernsey County, west of Middlebourne. [ADDITION March 2016]  I have discovered a land deed in which an Isaac Stout and his wife “Lidia” transfer land in Delaware County, Indiana in 1838. This cannot be the father of the Isaiah that we are focusing on here, because there are clear records of an Isaac and Lydia Stout in  Indiana. Plus, it is a different county than mentioned in  the Guernsey County book. 

In the 28 years they were married, Emmeline and Isaiah had eleven children, built a house and a successful farm. (UPDATE 3/2020: Thanks to a reader, here’s an aerial view from 1975 of the Stout farm. (https://vintageaerial.com/photos/ohio/guernsey/1975/EGU/4/2)By 1989, the later owner of Isaiah Stout’s farm said they barns had been torn down.)

Three of Isaiah and Emeline’s children died before reaching the age of 5. Isaiah, apparently uneducated and content to stay in Ohio and work his farm, surely was proud of his bright sons and daughters, although he did not live to see most of them reach success in marriage and careers. I can’t help think that he might have been disappointed that his four successful sons turned their back on his Ohio farm.

Isaiah died when he was just fifty years old, before his youngest two sons left for the west and became a lawyer and a rancher, but he saw his two oldest sons become doctors.

I have no photos of Isaiah–although there are pictures of Emeline and most of the children in our family collection. Based on the photo of his sons that you can see in the article on Dr. George Stout, I have a mental picture of a sturdy man with a high forehead and upright bearing.

The Stout Cemetery,

Unfortunately Isaiah never met any of his 24 grandchildren before he was buried in the Stout cemetery in Guernsey County.

The Stout Cemetery, Guernsey County, Ohio. Photo by Larry and Judy Anderson.

How I am related

  • Vera Marie Badertscher, who is the
  • daughter of Harriette Anderson Kaser who is the
  • daughter of Vera Stout Anderson, who is the
  • daughter of William Cochran Stout, who is the
  • son of Isaiah Stout.

Notes

  • U. S. Federal Census: 1850, Liberty, Washington,Ohio; 1860, Oxford, Guernsey, Ohio; 1870, Wills, Guernsey, Ohio. Non Population Schedule,1870; Census Place: Guernsey, Guernsey, Ohio; Archive Collection Number: T1159; Roll: 36; Line: 6; Schedule Type: Agriculture, Isaiah Stout.
  • Ohio, County Marriages, 1774-1993, Guernsey County, Isaiah Stout and Emeline Cockran, Ancestors in Aprons.
  • Find a Grave, Isaiah Stout
  • History of the Stout Family by Nathan Stout, accessed on line at U. S. Gen Web Archives.
  • The Household Guide and Instructor with Biographies, History of Guernsey County, Ohio, by T. F. Williams (1882)  (Two copied pages that include the Stout/Cochran family are in my possession. (Whole available free through Google books)
  • Omaha, The Gate City and Douglas County Nebraska, Vol. 2, edited by Arthur Cooper Wakely (1917). (E-book Available free through Google Books)
  • Family photographs are in the author’s possession.