Perfect Pecan Pie

Pecan Pie is amazingly difficult to make.  I have literally made 50+ pecan pies (do you know how expensive pecans are?...) in the past year, trying to perfect some method to guarantee a perfect pie every single time.  I found that method and can now confidently make them without having to worry about soupy or curdled, scrambled egg fillings.

Before I begin,  I ABSOLUTELY and POSITIVELY must state that there are no special tricks to creating a perfect pecan pie, and any recipe claiming such a thing is ignorant.

What constitutes a successful pecan pie? The answer is simple.  A smooth filling that is neither runny nor curdled.  The zone in between those 2 is where the success lies.  The reason its so difficult to bake pecan pies into that zone is because the difference between pecan soup and perfectly done is "1 MIN OF BAKING TIME!"  The difference between perfectly done and scrambled eggs is "1 MIN OF BAKING TIME!"

I shit you not when I say if you are off by literally 1 min, your pie will fail.

The other problem is, there is no way to physically tell when a pecan pie is done.  Trust me, I threw away around 15 consecutive pies trying to determine what, if any way there was to tell when it was done.  There are none.  I've had pies jiggle when I shook them, only to be curdled brains underneath.  I've had pies barely move when shook, only to be a soupy mess underneath.  Some pies only half jiggle.  Some pies bloat up and rise, some stay level and unmoved.  There are no consistent, physical signs in which to tell if a pecan pie is done.

Temperature is not an accurate indication of doneness.  I've had pies read 185 degrees and be perfect.  I've had pies read 190 and be soupy.  I've had pies read 175 and be curdled.  The other problem is, once you start opening the oven door several times, it throws off the baking time by a significant amount and also changes the internal temperature doneness number.

So, what is the key? What did I do to guarantee consistently good pecan pies every single time?

MEASURE EVERYTHING!  This includes weight, temperature, and time.

That being said, the recipe I present to you is for my oven and the baking time for your oven can be different.  In my old house I had a gas oven which baked slightly cooler and therefore I would have to bake an extra minute longer where as my new house has an electric oven and runs slightly hotter.

This recipe is a good base and all you would have to do is find the magic number for your specific oven.  Make a few pies and keep adding or subtracting 1 min from the baking time until you find that perfect number.  Once you find it, that number will never change.

common mistakes:
1.  Curdling the eggs while heating them up.  To prevent this, I always use a thick, plastic bowl to heat my ingredients over a double boiler.  It heats slower than a thinner, pyrex or glass bowl, but it prevents overheating much better.  I've had my eggs curdle in a pyrex bowl many times even though I was heating them over only medium heat and only to 140 degrees.  If you do use pyrex, heat between low and medium-low heat and stir constantly.

2.  Not pre-heating the oven long enough.  Technically, if you follow the recipe there is no way this can occur, but I once had to rush this and only pre-heated at 400 for 3 minutes and the pie was way underdone.  So, pre-heat for at least 20-30 minutes.


ingredients:
1.  4.5 oz roughly chopped, toasted pecans
note: - Pecans can get slightly black and still be ok but don't go overboard with it or else they become bitter.  Try and stay on the dark brown side.  I've tried keeping the pecans whole, and it does look better aesthetically, but chopping them definitely tastes better texturally.  
note: - Get whole pecans and chop them.  Pre-chopped pecans have a weird taste to me.
2.  5.9 oz of "cracked" eggs (around 3 extra large eggs).  If it is under 5.9, crack a 4th egg in a separate bowl, mix thoroughly, and add a few drops until you reach 5.9 oz
3.  7.9 oz of light brown sugar
4.  7.8 oz of light corn syrup
5.  3 oz butter
6.  1 TBL + 3/4 tsp cornstarch
7.  1/2 tsp salt
8.  1/2 tsp vanilla extract
9.  Instant read thermometer
10.  Whisk
11.  Pie crust for 1/2 a pie (recipe and baking instructions can be found in apple pie recipe)

recipe:
1.  Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees, middle rack.
2.  Heat few cups of water in a small sauce pan over medium heat.
3.  Toast chopped pecans in a pan over medium heat, flipping every few minutes until slightly darkened in color.  5-7 minutes.
4.  In a cold plastic bowl, add in eggs, light brown sugar, light corn syrup, butter, cornstarch, salt, and vanilla.
5.  Roll out pie dough and onto pie dish according to instructions under the apple pie recipe
6.  Put parchment onto a baking tray, then foiled pie dish on top.  Place into oven for 15 min.
7.  While pie bakes, place bowl onto sauce pan with boiling water (reduce heat to low to medium-low if using pyrex or glass bowl) and whisk until all the corn starch has dissolved.
8.  Continually whisk until temperature reaches 100 degrees.
9.  Add in toasted pecans and continue stirring until temp reaches 130 degrees.
10.  As soon as it hits 130, take off the heat and whisk for another 30 seconds and allow to cool.
11.  After the pie has baked for 15 min, take it out of the oven and take off the foil.
12.  Check the temperature of the filling, it should be around 125 degrees.  Since the pie will only bake for another 4 minutes, its important to time it correctly so that it hits 118 just as the 4 minutes are up.  If the filling is hotter than 125, wait till it hits 125 before you put the pie back into the oven.
note: - You can go slightly over or under 4 minutes, but be warned that the pie crust can puff up A LOT, to the point that you will lose space for the filling, if you bake it longer than 5 minutes.
13.  Put the parchment lined baking tray with uncovered pie crust back into the oven and bake for 4 minutes.
14.  Start whisking while holding the thermometer in the filling and watch the temperature drop.  You are trying to time it so that its 119 with 30 seconds to go.  As soon as the timer has around 30 seconds left, reset it and put 60 seconds on the timer but don't press start yet. 
15.  Re-take the temperature of the filling and as soon as it hits 118-118.9, press start on the 60 second timer and quickly, but safely, open the over door, pull out the "oven rack and baking tray", use a whisk to carefully pour in every single last drop of the filling and pecans, carefully push in the oven rack and baking dish, and close the oven door.  This should all take almost exactly 60 seconds.  If you are slightly over or under that's fine, but try to time it for exactly 60 seconds.
16.  Immediately lower the temperature to 285, then immediately set the timer to 53 minutes and press start.
note: - NEVER OPEN THE OVEN DOOR AS IT BAKES!
17.  After EXACTLY 53 minutes are up, immediately take out the pie and set to cool in a very cool place (by an open door or window).
18.  Let rest and cool for at least 45 minutes before slicing and serving.  If you cut into it pre-maturely, it could be runny.
19.  If completely cooled and you want to rewarm, place into a 230 degree oven for at least 30 min.