Martha Stewart Living (November 2012)
Ooo, Martha, you had our number with this one.
We probably would have made this pie, which is part of a great feature on regional Thanksgiving specialties in Martha Stewart Living, even if it were just a chocolate pecan pie.
But we swooned when we saw the sorghum.
If you're not familiar with it, it's sort of like molasses. But unlike molasses, which is still usually made from sugarcane, sorghum comes from a whole other grain. Here's a great description from a recent feature in Garden & Gun (which we're loving and we really need to talk about with you sometime soon):
Until recently, sorghum was a largely forgotten grain throughout much of the South, left to just a handful of farmers to grow, harvest, and press into foodstuffs. Now demand is growing, thanks to heritage-minded home cooks, local food purveyors, and chefs such as Linton Hopkins and Richard Blais who have rediscovered the virtues of sorghum syrup. Purer than molasses and more Southern than maple syrup, it’s a soulful alternative to honey or agave.
[...]
Southerners have been making sorghum syrup since the 1850s, when the old-world crop was first widely cultivated. By the turn of the century, the country was producing more than twenty million gallons annually. That figure fell dramatically over the next century as glucose syrups made from corn and other starches became readily available. Now Americans make fewer than one million gallons each year.
As that G&G piece notes, there are stirrings of a sorghum revival, and we think that's great. We always have a couple jars in our cupboards, courtesy of Zach's mom, who has been known to check a couple bottles in her luggage when she flies up for a visit.
Anyway, this pie.
It's amazing. It's phenomenal. The combo of the crunchy toasted pecans, the darkly sweet chocolate, and the bitter-tinged sorghum is absolutely out of this world. Oh also, there's bourbon (as if it wasn't indulgent enough already).
Find yourself some sorghum and MAKE. THIS. PIE.
Related posts:
- The top Thanksgiving trends for 2012
- Thanksgiving Recipe Index: Every dish recommended by food magazines this year
Sorghum-Sweetened Chocolate Pecan Pie
Martha Stewart Living (November 2012)
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(This photo: Marcus Nilsson/Martha Stewart Living)
Prep: 20 mins
Total time: 3 hours
Yield: Serves 8
NOTES FROM ZACH AND CLAY
Since we made this dish in the midst of a very large cooking endeavor, we used a prepared pie crust instead of the Test-Kitchen Piecrust recommended by this recipe.
INGREDIENTS
1 disk Test-Kitchen Piecrust1/3 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for surface
1/2 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
2 eggs, lightly beaten
3 tablespoons bourbon
1/2 cup sorghum (bourbonbarrelfoods.com)
1 cup pecans (4 ounces), toasted and coarsely chopped
4 ounces semisweet chocolate (preferably 61 percent cacao), finely chopped (1 cup)
1 stick unsalted butter
DIRECTIONS
Roll out dough into a 12-inch round (1/4 inch thick) on a lightly floured surface. Fit into a 9-inch pie plate. Trim edge, leaving a 1/2-inch overhang, and crimp as desired. Refrigerate crust until firm, about 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line crust with parchment, and fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake until edge of crust is golden, about 20 minutes. Remove weights and parchment, and bake until crust is golden brown and baked throughout, 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool completely on a wire rack, about 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Stir in eggs to combine, then stir in bourbon, sorghum, pecans, and chocolate. Melt butter, and pour over mixture; stir until thoroughly combined. Pour filling into crust, and bake until top is set but center is slightly gooey, about 35 minutes. Let cool completely on a wire rack, about 1 1/2 hours.