Recipe: Cane Syrup Pecan Pie, from Jamie DeMent

Jamie DeMent farms and cooks on Coon Rock Farm in Hillsborough, North Carolina. A well-known cooking teacher, she also owns, with her partner, Richard Holcomb, Piedmont Restaurant in Durham, North Carolina, and Bella Bean Organics.

Jamie DeMent opens a bright kitchen window onto the newest kind of North Carolina farming life. On fifty-five acres of beautiful Piedmont farmland in Hillsborough, North Carolina, DeMent and her family raise sustainably nurtured and sought-after heirloom varieties of produce and livestock. Every day on Coon Rock Farm, DeMent cooks robust, flavorful, satisfying meals for family, crew, and farm interns—and now you are invited to share the bounty. The Farmhouse Chef offers 150 recipes for every occasion, from down home to downright elegant, inspired by the farm’s yield through the four seasons.

From fall’s Sage- and Sausage-Stuffed Acorn Squash to Pear and Bacon Salad, to summer’s Sugarcane Barbecue Chicken and Watermelon Mojitos, DeMent’s cooking style highlights no-nonsense approaches using great ingredients combined with easy preparations for supercharged flavor. Accompanying the recipes are DeMent’s deliciously observant stories illuminating what life is really like on a working farm. A native North Carolinian committed to the development of sustainable farming in her state, DeMent will inspire those of us who may not have a lot of time to cook, let alone farm, but who care about seasonal, healthfully grown food.

For more delicious recipes, grab a copy of Jamie’s The Farmhouse Chef.

Recipe: Cane Syrup Pecan Pie

Some people say that I live in the superlative. Everything is the very best or very worst. Well, this is the best pecan pie you will ever cook. I promise. No corn syrup needed. People from around the world will sit at your dinner table and tell you how brilliant you are. You will win Thanksgiving every year. Peace on earth will descend around you. All because of some pecans and some old-time cane syrup.
Servings: 6 servings

Ingredients

  • 1 piecrust
  • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon cornstarch
  • 1 1/2 cups pure cane syrup
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup pecan halves
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1 tablespoon bourbon

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 450°. Line a 9-inch pie pan with the piecrust.
  • In a medium-sized saucepan, melt the butter and stir in the flour and cornstarch until smooth.
  • Add the cane syrup and sugar, and boil for 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and cool.
  • In a separate small bowl, beat 2 eggs. Add the eggs and the rest of the ingredients to the pot, and stir them to mix well. Pour everything into your piecrust and lightly tap it on counter to even out the nuts and release any air bubbles.
  • Place the pie in the oven and bake at 450° for 10 minutes. Turn the heat down to 350° and bake for an additional 30–35 minutes—until the pie is done and not jiggly in the center.
  • Remove the pie from the oven and allow it to cool a little before serving.

Notes

From The Farmhouse Chef: Recipes and Stories from My Carolina Farm by Jamie DeMent. Copyright © 2017 by Jamie DeMent. Used by permission of the University of North Carolina Press. www.uncpress.org