Golden-brown potato custard pie with crimped pastry edges on a vintage plate

Antebellum America · United States

Eliza Leslie's Potato Pie

Name: Eliza Leslie's Potato Pie
Total time: 65 min
Yield: 8
Cuisine: United States
Ingredients: 450 g potatoes, peeled and cubed; 60 g butter; 120 ml milk; 150 g caster sugar; 3 eggs, beaten; Zest and juice of 1 lemon; 1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg; 250 g shortcrust pastry

From Directions for Cookery · Eliza Leslie · 1837

Verified from original source

An American potato custard pie flavoured with nutmeg and lemon.

Historical note: Boil the potatoes, and mash them smooth with a little butter and milk...

History

Eliza Leslie's Potato Pie, from her influential 1837 *Directions for Cookery*, represents early American home baking. Leslie (1787–1858), a Philadelphia-based cookery writer, produced one of the antebellum era's most popular cookbooks, aimed at middle-class American housewives. Her potato pie typically combined mashed potatoes with eggs, butter, sugar, and spices in a pastry crust—a thrifty dessert reflecting the period's reliance on readily available ingredients. Such pies were common in 18th- and 19th-century Anglo-American cookery, adapting European custard-pie traditions to New World affordability. The dish has largely disappeared from modern repertoires, though sweet potato pie remains popular in American Southern cuisine.

Sources

Eliza Leslie, Directions for Cookery, in its Various Branches (1837)
Jan Longone, 'Eliza Leslie: America's First Culinary Celebrity' in Gastronomica (2001)
Karen Hess, The Carolina Rice Kitchen: The African Connection (1992)
Andrew F. Smith, The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America (2013)
William Woys Weaver, A Quaker Woman's Cookbook: The Domestic Cookery of Elizabeth Ellicott Lea (1982)

Serves

Prep

25m

Cook

40m

Difficulty

Medium

Ingredients

· 450 g potatoes, peeled and cubed
· 60 g butter
· 120 ml milk
· 150 g caster sugar
· 3 eggs, beaten
· Zest and juice of 1 lemon
· 1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
· 250 g shortcrust pastry

Method

1
Boil potatoes until tender, then drain and mash with butter and milk until smooth.
2
Beat in sugar, eggs, lemon zest, lemon juice and nutmeg.
3
Line a 23 cm pie dish with pastry.
4
Pour potato mixture into pastry case.
5
Bake at 180°C for 35-40 minutes until set and golden.

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