Tarte Citron Meringuée

The lemon pie or tart has a colourful history but historians are not in agreement about its origins. According to some historians, the first recipe for lemon pie with a pastry base and lemon custard filling was written down in 1828 by Eliza Leslie in the recipe book Seventy-five Receipts for Pastry, Cakes, and Sweetmeats. It’s Elizabeth Goodfellow, an American cook in Philadelphia, and teacher of Mrs Leslie how create the lemon pie. Mrs Goodfellow ran a pastry shop, where she also organised cookery lessons. One of her signature desserts was a tart filled with a rich lemon custard. The story goes that, as she had to use so many egg yolks for the custard, one day she decided to use the egg whites to make a meringue topping for the lemon pie and thus was the lemon meringue pie born Today, a lemon pie in the Americas most often but not always signifies a lemon meringue pie, whereas in Europe, there are two distinct lemon and pastrybased desserts, which are generally referred to as tarts. A pie usually refers to a preparation that has a deeper pastry base, whilst a tart has a much shallower pastry base. Each part of the dessert comes from a different part of the world. Lemon cream is originally from the United Kingdom. Despite its origin, the lemon pie is one of the French patisserie classic!

To experience the real Lemon Pie you should visit this specific bakery in Paris, France: Pierre Hermé Paris.