I was looking for a recipe for a Thanksgiving pie, and my daughter sent me one for a Lemon Chess Pie. While I decided against making it, I was intrigued with the description of its origin.

They said there are several theories as to how these pies came by their name. Some say that "chess" is a corruption of "chest," meaning that these pies were so rich they could be stored in chests at room temperature.

Others offer a different explanation: It seems that long ago when a good plantation cook was asked what she was making, she replied, "Jes pie," which over time became "chess."

Still others insist that "chess" derives from "cheese," as in the English lemon "cheese" (or curd). According to food historian Karen Hess, "cheese" was spelled "chese" in seventeenth-century England. In her historical notes and commentaries for the 1984 facsimile edition of Mary Randolph's Virginia House-wife (1824), Hess writes: "Since the archaic spellings of cheese often had but one 'e' we have the answer to the riddle of the name of that southern favorite 'Chess Pie.'"

Does anyone know which of these stories, if any, is correct?

Lemon curd is often referred to as lemon cheese over here. I've never heard of lemon chess.

I think I've heard of "chess pie" but not "lemon chess pie." What is the recipe? Sounds as if it might be delicious. (I baked the traditional apple and pumpkin instead.)

Wordmatic

Recipes

Thanks to Google ... once again

Well, of course that's not the recipe I had. WM, I'll send it to you.