Every day I look forward to a new experience. Cooking allows me to potentially learn something new every day.  For example, today I am going to prepare Shrimp Creole for dinner, I am going to replace Worcestershire Sauce with fish sauce; let’s see how that taste.  Try something new and different every day. Share with us what new cooking secret or trick you learned and tried today.

What I create through cooking has not always come out ideally. Approximately sixty (60) years ago, I was going to surprise my Daddy with his favorite pie for dinner.  I was going to make a tart lemon meringue pie.  To make a long story short, the pie was a flop.  It never did set it was a runny mess.  Below I will share with you the recipe for a foolproof lemon meringue pie.

Cooking allows you to have great memories.  My big brother Buddy saw me crying over that runny lemon meringue pie and gave me a hug and told me not to be upset, cry, or feel hurt he would drink the pie. To this day, he is my number one taste tester.

Lemon Meringue Pie

Filling: 1/3 cup sugar, 1/4 cup corn starch, 1/4 cup ice water, 1 1/2 cups cold sweetened condensed milk, 3 egg yolks, slightly beaten, 1/8 teaspoon lemon zest, 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice, 1 tablespoon butter. Get out a saucepan, add the sugar and the cornstarch. In a bowl, combine the milk, water, and egg yolks.  Gradually stir in the milk mixture until smooth. Bring to a boil over medium heat, constantly stirring, for approximately 1 minute.  Remove from heat. Stir in lemon peel, lemon juice, and butter. Stir until butter melts. Pour the hot filling into a baked and cooled  9-inch pie crust. Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until golden. Remove from oven.  Add meringue.

Meringue: 3 egg whites, 1/3 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon corn starch.  Beat egg whites in a small bowl with an electric mixer at high speed until foamy. Mix the sugar and cornstarch, mix well. Add the sugar mixture to the egg whites. Continue beating until the whites form stiff peaks. Spread the meringue evenly over the hot filling, make sure the meringue goes all the way to the edge of crust with a slight mound in the middle.