11 Comments

A wonderful piece, Pat! Simply wonderful.

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Thank you, my pie maker guiding light!

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I'm a leaf lard and butter girl myself...and make a pretty darn fine Nanabanana Cream Pie if you need a recipe. I hope it might be up to Betty's standards.

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Leaf lard! I try to always have a block of it in the refrigerator. Somehow I got into a discussion about lard cake icing, too. So many uses! Nanabanana Cream Pie sounds great--does it use whipped cream topping? There's been a question about that.

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You can do it with bananas and sugar on top burnished with a blow torch, a Chantilly cream, or a meringue.

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Love the blow torch option!

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Fabulous story beautifully told, Pat! That debate about pie crust still rages, I believe. Do you still make them with butter and lard? Now I definitely want to make a banana cream pie. My question, though—isn’t a cream pie topped with whipped cream, not meringue? Also, do you still have Betty’s recipe? Now I really want to make a banana cream pie!😋

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Life lessons--sometimes hard but always worth the effort. Thank you, Pat!

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Incredible how often we need them, right?

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Thank you RuthI I do generally make a butter and lard crust, tho' I'm also very partial to lard if I get my hands on some really good lard--I just don't tell people about it because some people get a little wiggly about using an animal fat (don't get me started on the suet question). I don't have Betty's original piece of paper. This piece made me want to go buy Crisco, though. I think you're right about the whipped cream but for some reason meringue was the topping Betty used. It kind of sits nicely on top of the custard as a counterpoint to the rich filling. I have to go buy some bananas! And thank you for the shout out! You are the best!

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Pie crust is so tricky and everyone who bakes has an opinion about how to tackle it. I enjoyed the rich description of Betty!

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