Rhubarb Pie from 1850

Rhubarb is full and lush in my garden, and the reenacting season is starting here in the North, so it's time to harvest some and bake a rhubarb pie! And my need for a pie ties in nicely with Historical Food Fortnightly Challenge #11: Picnic Foods

I have fallen behind on the challenges, but with every intent to catch back up, I thought I would get a head start on this challenge.

The Challenge
Picnic Foods (May 20 - June 2) Some foods are just meant to be eaten in the outdoors! Concoct a dish that is documented for al fresco dining, or foods that might particularly lend themselves to eating at a picnic. Bonus points for putting it to the test!

A pie might not seem like the logical thing to bring to a picnic, used as we are to paper plates, sandwiches, and disposable ease.  But picnics in the antebellum period were often far more elaborate.  

"The Pic-Nic" by Thomas Cole, 1846, in the Brooklyn Museum of Art.  My photograph of work in the museum

I love the ability to go out into my garden and harvest what I need - organic and fresh.  Of course, it's one of the few food plants I can get to grow successfully in my yard.

Rhubarb was prized for medicinal qualities and also valued as a food.  Most commonly used in pie, it was commonly called "pie plant," so ubiquitous was the use.

From The Western Farmer and Gardener, Jan or Feb 1850

The Recipe and Location

I chose recipes for the pie and the crust from Mrs. Crowen's American Lady's System of Cookery, published in New York (1860).

Rhubarb Pie. --  Cut the large stalks off where the leaves commence; strip off the outside skin, then cut the stalks in pieces half an inch long; line a pie dish with paste rolled rather thicker than a dollar piece, put in a layer of rhubarb nearly an inch deep; to a quart bowl of cut rhubarb, put a large teacup of sugar, strew it over with a salt-spoonful of salt, and half a nutmeg grated; cover with a rich pie crust, cut a slit in the centre, trim off the edge with a sharp knife, and bake in a quick oven, until the pie loosens from the dish.  Rhubarb pies made in this way are altogether superior to those made of fruit stewed.

For the pie crust, I selected "Family Pie Crust" from the same cookbook.

What I Did

First I went out to the garden to cut some rhubarb.  After removing the top leaves and washing it, I cut it into small pieces, around 1/2" in length.

The pie crust went together easily; I used lard with half a teaspoon of salt to the pound of flour
I cut the lard into the flour/salt mixture with two knives until crumbly (fat the size of a pea).  I needed a bit more than 11 T of water to make a pliable dough.  The recipe makes enough for 2 crusts

Since I am using a deep period-style pie dish, I needed about 5 c of rhubarb to give me the proper amount of filling.  I used 1 1/4 c of white sugar, mixing it through the cut rhubarb, then grating half a nutmeg and mixing that in too.  I layered the sugar/nutmeg/ rhubarb in the pie pan (forgot the salt), covered with the top crust, crimped the edges and cut the vent slits.   I set in the preheated oven at 375 degrees F for roughly an hour (until the rhubarb juice bubbled through the slits.

The finished pie!  

Cost

I used half of a small container of lard, which cost me $3.00 total.  Flour and sugar were in my pantry, as are whole nutmegs.  The rhubarb came from my garden.  Estimating costs for the flour and sugar, the entire pie cost me less than $5.00

How Accurate Is It?

Aside from leaving out the salt in the filling and using a measuring cup rather than a teacup, which would make this pie a bit sweeter, the end result is quite accurate.

How Successful Was It? 

We will be trying this out this weekend, so the results are still to be determined.  I'll report back!

 Updated Postscript (May 23, 2016)

We did indeed try the pie over the weekend at a reenactment as part of our Saturday lunch.  Since we ate al fresco, I believe it counts as a picnic, since picnics are not limited to sitting on the ground.

Tables covered with the detritus of lunch (and children's toys)  A seed cake sits in the front waiting to be cut.

The taste was very bright and sweet-sour, with a very clean clear rhubarb taste.  I don't regret adding the amount of sugar that I did.  The crust has lovely and flaky.  Two things had worried me about the pie - without the addition of cornstarch to the filling, would the juices run and overwhelm the pie and the crust?  Modern rhubarb pies are flavored frequently flavored with lemon - this was flavored with nutmeg.  How would it taste?

I am happy to report that the rhubarb set up quite nicely, without excess amounts of juice.  I also realized that most modern rhubarb pies must contain stewed rhubarb since I normally don't see the individual pieces in the filling.  The hour baking time seemed just right - the rhubarb was soft, with no crunch to it.  As for the nutmeg, there was no pronounced nutmeg taste.  I was very pleasantly surprised with how the nutmeg enhanced the brightness of the taste.