Chess pie is a dessert with a filling composed mainly of flour, butter, sugar, eggs, and sometimes milk, characteristic of Southern United States cuisine.[1]
 A slice of vanilla buttermilk chess pie | |
| Type | Pie |
|---|---|
| Place of origin | England |
| Main ingredients | Pie crust, eggs, butter, granulated sugar, vanilla, corn meal |
| Variations | Lemon chess pie, vinegar pie |
Jefferson Davis pie is similar to chess pie, but Jefferson Davis pie may also contain spices, nuts, or dried fruits and is usually topped with meringue.[2]
History
Chess pie was brought from England originally and was found in New England as well as Virginia.[2][3] It has some similarities to English lemon curd pie.[4]
It is likely derived from recipes for cheeseless cheesecake that appeared in cookbooks as early as the 17th century, such as in Martha Washington's Booke of Cookery and the English A True Gentlewoman's Delight (1653).[5] A recipe explicitly called chess pie appeared in the 1877 cookbook by Estelle Woods Wilcox, Buckeye Cookery.[5][6]
Today chess pie is most commonly associated as a dessert of the American South.[4] Common types of chess pie are buttermilk, chocolate, lemon, and nut.[citation needed]
Name
Several derivations of the name chess pie have been proposed. The most likely is a derivation of cheese pie, as early cookbooks grouped cheesecakes together with pies made of curd or custard.[7][8][9][6] Other possible derivations include: the town of Chester, England;[5] chest pie, from pie chest, a type of furniture used to store pies prior to home refrigeration; or an eggcorn of "It's just pie" due to a misinterpretation of the pronunciation "It's jes' pie" in Southern American English.[10][4]
Composition
The basic chess pie recipe calls for the preparation of a single crust and a filling composed of flour, butter, sugar, and eggs and milk or condensed milk. Some variations call for the addition of cornmeal as a thickener. Many recipes call for an acid such as vinegar, buttermilk, or lemon juice.[11][8]
In addition to standard chess pie, other flavor variations include lemon, coconut, and chocolate chess pie.[12] Some nut pies, including some pecan, fall under the category of chess pies.[13] Traditional pecan pie recipes do not include milk or condensed milk in the filling, and are typically regarded as a type of sugar pie similar to British treacle rather than a milk-containing custard (see Pecan pie § Variations).