When we were picking up groceries last week I spotted a bin with bags of shelled pecan halves, each bag was about three cups worth. They just called my name, seeing such nice-looking pecan halves reminded me of my youth on the Mississippi coast where we would pick up fresh pecans by the bucketful and bring them home to shell them. I still remember the nutcracker my parents had, and the things that looked like dental picks to remove the wood from around the actual pecan meat. Naturally, one of the bags followed me home.
Last night I opened the bag and chopped about one cup of them by hand, with a big kitchen knife like we used to do before food processors. I made a pecan pie filling, which as any good Southerner knows is nothing but butter and sugar in several different forms, with some egg blended in as an emulsifier. I stirred in the hand-chopped pecans along with another half cup of the pecan halves and poured it into a piecrust. It came out of the oven looking perfect, I sampled it today at lunch and it was just like I remember. The chopped pecans from the store just can't give that sort of flavor, the natural pecan oils were still sealed in the pecan halves until I chopped them and then the complete pecan halves I added just enhanced the nutty, earthy flavor of good pecans. Friends, you haven't lived until you've had fresh pecan pie like that! |
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