285262 Wed May 17 15:28:37 -0700 2006 19 31 Home Cooking 0 1527109 Inspired by the message just below, I was wondering if anyone had any ideas of why mine didn't work. I tried baking it for 10 -15 minutes and still didn't set. Are there tips or tricks? Thanks Here's the recipe: 3 x 7 oz tins condensed milk 12 oz pasteurized egg yolks (about 12 yolks) 1 1/2 cups fresh lime juice 1 1/2 tbsp lime zest FILLING: Whisk together all ingredients until smooth and pour into baked pie shell. Chill for at least 4 hours before slicing. Wed May 17 15:28:37 -0700 2006 0 Mila 1 1527112 Just to clarify - this must have been multiple pies - correct? It may be seen as a travesty, but I always make key lime pie with whole eggs in the filling, not just yolks. If the recipe calls for 4 yolks, I use 2 whole eggs. I find the filling is just as creamy and sets well. AND I don't have to figure out what to do with the whites (I prefer a whipped cream topping). Wed May 17 15:39:01 -0700 2006 1527109 0 Nyleve 1 1527113 I posted my tips below, but I'll repeat here. Whisking until smooth won't do it. You need to beat the egg yolks and condensed milk until thickened. It lightens considerably to a pale yellow and will form a thick ribbon when you run a spatula through it. Then whisk in the lime juice and zest and beat well. I think your recipe has too much juice, try reducing this by about half. You can taste the mixture to see if it's tart enough for you. The mix should be baked in the shell for about 10 minutes at 350 degrees. Then cool for several hours before cutting. It will be just set, like a light custard. I make mine with meringue so it's baked again for a few minutes. I've made this pie dozens of times using the recipe I linked below. A friend recommended it and passed on the same tips based on her experience. It works like a charm. Wed May 17 15:39:21 -0700 2006 1527109 0 cheryl 1 1527130 I think the main culprit in this is, as Cheryl said, that you didn't bake it before setting it in the fridge. There are lots of no-bake key lime pie recipes out there -- I think the ones that utilize condensed milk, whipped cream, and key lime juice/zest are most successful... In my experience, you've got to heat the egg to get it to be a setting agent. If you didn't want to bake the pie, I wonder if you could try heating the condensed milk on the stove and tempering the yolks, then cooking together for a bit (as if you were making pudding/custard) and pouring into the pie shell and chilling? You also need to chill for a long time, good and cold. If you're looking to save your runny pie, stick it in the freezer and serve partially frozen! Tasty. Wed May 17 16:49:19 -0700 2006 1527109 0 Foodie2 1 1527134 bake it-it's a dang custard. Ever heard of a no bake creme brulee/creme caramel/flan/creme michoacan/lemon curd, etc.....? Wed May 17 17:13:00 -0700 2006 1527109 0 dkd 1 1527217 I think you have to bake it. I'd be a bit unsettled, perhaps irrationally about eating a no-bake pie with 12 egg yolks in it. But my recipe calls for similar ingredients--condensed milk, zest, juice, egg yolks--and it must be baked. Thu May 18 10:36:26 -0700 2006 1527109 0 Cagey 2 1527231 Key Lime Pie is never baked. (Well, I suppose you could make some sort of custardy pie with lime juice and bake it, but it wouldn't be "Key Lime Pie.") Thu May 18 11:48:23 -0700 2006 1527217 0 MikeG 3 1527235 Well, I just Googled a bit and I guess all the concerns about salmonella have got people baking them these days, but the original wasn't baked. I don't know what the deal with pasteurized yolks is - I wonder if maybe they react differently to the acid and whoever wrote that recipe didn't actually test with pasteurized eggs but just changed that to stay USDA/politically correct in terms of the eggs? That, or the limes may not have been acidic enough. Key/Mexican limes are more acidic than the usual Persian lime hybrids and the acidic is very necessary - if they were a bit on the ripe side (lots of yellow in the rind), they may not have been quite acidic enough. Harder, totally green limes might work better if you can't get Mexican limes. Thu May 18 12:05:07 -0700 2006 1527231 0 MikeG 4 1527239 I didn't have any issues with Salmonella and used farm fresh eggs yolks. And I simply couldn't find pasturized eggs. I did have key limes but they seemed to be very ripe. Maybe they were over-ripe and losing their acidity. I will substitute a few harder persian limes next time. Thanks Mike. Thu May 18 12:20:01 -0700 2006 1527235 0 Mila 4 1527247 When I first made key lime pie I didn't bake it and ended up with lime-flavored custard soup. Nothing made it set. So although the lime juice is supposed to "cook" the eggs by chemistry, it just doesn't produce enough thickening. I don't know if the freshness of the eggs has anything to do with it. Whipping the mixture really well (to distribute the egg proteins throughout the condensed milk), baking it for a short time, then cooling it for a few hours seems to be the trick. I have had no failures with this since I tried it. Joy of Cooking says to bake it, but doesn't give any reason. Thu May 18 12:42:09 -0700 2006 1527235 0 cheryl 5 1527302 Hmmm. I haven't made it in a long time but don't recall having that problem. Now I'm thinking maybe I'll have to try one myself to see what happens. First stop will be Google to see if the proportions for the "original" are reported the same, or if they vary. I wonder if more or less juice might also be an issue? Thu May 18 16:41:10 -0700 2006 1527247 0 MikeG 6 1527355 I've made both baked and unbaked fillings and simply prefer the less raw, more cohesive flavor of a baked lime custard. Saveur gave an unbaked filling as follows and chilled at least 6 hours or overnight. It set fine for my trial. Makes 1 9" pie. 4 pasteurized egg yolks 1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk 1/2 c key lime juice (8-10 key limes) Whisk yolks briefly in a bowl. Slowly add condensed milk, combine until smooth. Mix in lime juice. Pour into prepared pie shell and cover with plastic wrap. Chill in fridge until set-6 hrs or overnight. Link: http://www.chowhound.com/topics/show/279538#1482608 Thu May 18 19:52:51 -0700 2006 1527302 0 petradish 1 1527233 Thanks for all your responses. I believe the consensus is to bake it. Fair enough. I think this recipe may take more than 10 minutes because it really is for only one pie, Nyleve. I was under the impression that the the limes and egg yolks created some kind of chemical reaction to thicken it. Quote from recipe: "This classic key lime pie recipe follows the traditional technique of NOT baking the filling. The acidity in the lime juice “cooks” the eggs as the fillings chill. Pasteurized egg yolks are best for this recipe, but fresh eggs also can be used." I'll try your recipe next time Cheryl. The original recipe link is below. Sure looked good but lots of stress when it didn't set up. Link: http://www.foodtv.ca/recipes/recipedetails.aspx?dishid=3738 Thu May 18 12:01:07 -0700 2006 1527109 0 Mila 2 1527250 Boy , no wonder you had a bad experience. bahh on food network....that is one terrible recipe!! As well as the erroneous idea that the lime juice will completely solidify the eggs, which I cannot image, WHERE is the SUGAR??? They do not specify SWEETENED condensed milk, which is what a classic Key Lime recipe includes, so there is no way , following this recipe as written, that you could have anything resembling a traditional Key Lime pie. Here's a basic recipe for a SMALL, 9 inch tart, can be doubled.... and is so easy, and passionfruit juice can be sub'ed for lime juice for a lovely Passionfruit tart...yum 1-9" graham cracker pie shell ( use fresh crumbs, butter, brown sugar ) 1-14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk 3 egg yolks (whites not used) 1/2 cup Key Lime Juice Combine milk, egg yolks and lime juice. Blend until smooth. Pour filling into pie shell and bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Allow to stand 10 minutes before refrigerating. Just before serving, top with freshly whipped cream and garnish with lime slices. Thu May 18 12:53:11 -0700 2006 1527233 0 ciaolette 3 1527255 For what it's worth, condensed milk is always sweetened, in my experience. Unsweetened "condensed" milk is called evaporated milk. Thu May 18 13:14:04 -0700 2006 1527250 0 Foodie2 4 1527318 Yep. It's one of those common-knowledge things that doesn't seem to be such common knowledge any more... Thu May 18 17:13:31 -0700 2006 1527255 0 MikeG 5 1527341 Actually, there is Condensed Milk , which is not sweetened. However it is not common in the US, so I stand corrected. When I lived in Thailand, we used it when we could not get fresh milk. It is slightly different from evaporated, something about the processing. Thu May 18 18:50:09 -0700 2006 1527318 0 ciaolette 6 1527420 Interesting, I've not seen that, even in Asian groceries here where Thai brands of sweetened, condensed milk are common. Have you ever come across it in the US? Fri May 19 00:01:23 -0700 2006 1527341 0 MikeG 1 1527256 For what it's worth, if you make a key lime pie and find it won't set, you can save it by freezing or partially freezing it. It'll be delicious. Thu May 18 13:15:57 -0700 2006 1527109 0 Foodie2 1 3242221 Don't know if this discussion has been settled or not, but I'll throw in my nickle. I've been making KLPs for many years now, 15-years commercially and many before that as a native Miamian. For all the thousand of KLPs I've made, not one has ever been baked. My suggestion, if you're going the unbaked-route, is to CAREFULLY incorporate the juice into the pre-mixed SCM and yolks. You can whip the life out of the SCM & yolks, wont make one bit of difference, however when the lime juice interacts with the yolks, a chemical reaction occurs that causes the filling to "set-up". Vigorous over-beating causes the same reaction to the filling as it would a hen-pecked husband. I suggest if you try this again with much greater care, watching for the change and just take your time until the juice has incorporated well enough. The other comment I have regarding this particular recipe is the amount of yolks being used. A dozen yolks is WAY over the top and will never work. We use the equivalent to four yolks per-pie, although these days we do use a liquified-pasteurized yolk for all the obvious reasons. Fill 'um and chill 'um. Hope this helps. Steve Fri Dec 28 07:14:17 -0800 2007 1527109 53086 KeylimeSteve