you don't know dick about pie

I was going through some of my old archived e-mails this evening and I came across a recipe that I would like to share with all of you. It covers 2 of my 3 favorite things... alcohol and pie.

And now, for your culinary pleasure:

Dick Taeuber’s Brandy Alexander Pie

1 ½ cups graham-cracker crumbs
1/3 cup melted butter
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
2/3 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 eggs, separated
¼ cup Cognac
¼ cup creme de cacao
1 cup heavy cream
Food coloring (optional)
Chocolate curls, for garnish.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine the crumbs with butter. Form in a 9-inch pan and bake for 10 minutes. Cool.

2. Pour ½ cup cold water in a saucepan and sprinkle gelatin over it. Add 1/3 cup sugar, salt and egg yolks. Stir to blend. Place over low heat and stir until the gelatin dissolves and the mixture thickens. Do not boil. Remove from heat.

3. Stir the Cognac and creme de cacao into the mixture. Then chill until the mixture starts to mound slightly when nudged with a spoon.

4. Beat the egg whites until stiff, then add the remaining 1/3 cup sugar and beat until peaks are firm. Fold the meringue into the thickened mixture.

5. Whip the cream, then fold into the mixture. Add food coloring if desired. Turn the mixture into the crust. Add garnish, if desired. Chill several hours or overnight. Serves 6.

This recipe was created in 1975. I found it in the New York Times Magazine in late October of 2006. I'm not sure why I still have it as an e-mail to myself, but doesn't it sound decadent and retro? If James Bond were to be represented by a pie I'm sure this would be it. And I'm talking Sean Connery's Bond, of course. Who knew that there was a alcohol-desert predecessor to the ever popular liquor filled chocolate bottles.

The most important piece of information regarding this recipe is Dick. Taeuber that is. According to the Times article that accompanied this recipe, Mr. Taeuber was a statistician who "discovered that you could use a simple formula to make the pie in the flavor of almost any cocktail you wanted (3 eggs to 1 cup cream to 1/2 cup liquor)."

Today's lesson: Yet another reminder that math actually has real world applications.