Few people try to improve on old standby recipes. They worry about failure or they believe that everything that has been tried has already happened! They couldn’t be farther from the truth. Without question one of the greatest chefs that have ever lived was Marie-Antoine Carême. Chef Carême lived before refrigeration and one of his greatest contributions — in my humble opinion — was in his discovery of how to prepare elaborate meals without spoiling given all the inherent time intensive nature of things and the many perishable ingredients.
Chef Carême used what we would call reduced milk or ‘condensed milk’ as a cream substitute and we can find it in many recipes over the years. The original Key Lime pie was made with condensed milk since lack of refrigeration was a serious issue in many Florida kitchens.
However, I assume you have refrigeration and we can now consider going back to cream (manufacturers cream) as a major improvement for this pie! I also enjoy a topping of homemade glazed pecans and a blend of 7 or so spices. Once you make it this way you will never go back!
Here is our recipe for a great Pumpkin Custard Pie!
enjoy!
Roger