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Yahoo
22-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
This lemon icebox pie is a refreshing summer sweet treat for potlucks, picnics
In warm Southern climates, nothing was more refreshing than a cool lemon pie in the fridge. It was that classic pie you'd make ahead with eggs, sweetened condensed milk and lemons, chill, and take to church. Originally a 1930s French Creole recipe out of New Orleans, it was the pie once there was refrigeration. That pie would travel to Denver, which is where Adrian Miller's mother baked it for her church gatherings. Johnetta Solomon Miller was born and in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and raised on lemon icebox pie. And so after she moved west and joined Denver's Campbell Chapel African Methodist Episcopal (which he has jokingly said stands for ''always meet and eat''), she made this sweet confection of tangy lemon filling on top of crushed vanilla wafers for church potlucks and other gatherings. It closely resembled the recipe on the back of the Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk can. Lemon icebox pie was nothing without canned milk. And canned milk saved many a small town cook in the South because it could rest on the pantry shelf and not need refrigeration. In fact, it was born because Gail Borden, a newspaperman and surveyor, was returning from a trip to England in 1851 when he saw children dying on his ship after they were fed milk from diseased cows on board. Borden had moved south to Liberty, Mississippi, and later, Texas, for health reasons and a warmer climate. His wife and children died of yellow fever in 1844 and 1845, and afterwards, Gail Borden focused on making food safer to eat. As it turned out, the sugar in Borden's mixture helped soak up the water in the milk and inhibited the growth of bacteria. The concoction was a yellowish, sweet, thick milk and at first it didn't sell. But the U.S. government purchased it as rations for the Union Army during the Civil War, and after the war, production took off. In some places in the South, without central air conditioning — the 1950s and '60s for sure, but I recall a hot Atlanta apartment in the 1970s! — people didn't turn on their ovens to bake. I remember when aluminum ice cube trays that came with refrigerators often did double-duty and were filled with frozen icebox pies. Johnetta Miller and a lot of good Southern cooks have known the refreshing quality of a summer lemon icebox pie. Hope you enjoy this recipe from my book, "Baking in the American South." Makes: 8 servings Prep and Cook: 30 to 35 minutes Bake: 20 to 27 minutes for crust and meringue Chill: At least 4 hours For the Vanilla Wafer Crust: 6 tablespoons (3 ounces) unsalted butter 58 Vanilla Wafer or thin ginger cookies or 12 whole graham crackers (1 1/2 cups crumbs) For the filling: 4 large eggs 1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk 4 to 5 medium lemons 1/2 cup sugar Place a rack in the center of the oven, and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Make the crust: Place the butter in a small saucepan over low heat to melt. Break the cookies or crackers into the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse until crumbs, 10 to 15 seconds. (You can also smash the crumbs using a large Ziploc bag and rolling pin and mix the crust in a large bowl.) Pour the melted butter into the processor and pulse 6 to 8 times so the ingredients pull together. Press the crust mixture into the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch pie pan, or a 1 1/2-quart casserole. Make the filling: Separate the eggs, placing the whites in a large bowl for the meringue and the yolks in a large bowl. Pour the condensed milk into the bowl with the yolks and whisk to combine well or beat with an electric mixer on low speed until well combined, 1 to 2 minutes. Wash the lemons and pat dry. Grate the zest of 1 lemon into the bowl with the yolks. Cut all the lemons in half and juice them to yield 1/2 cup lemon juice. Pour this into the bowl with the yolks, and whisk well to combine, or mix on low speed 1 minute until well incorporated. Pour into the crust, and place in the oven to bake until set, about 15 minutes. Leave the oven on. To make the meringue: Beat the egg whites at high speed with an electric mixer until foamy, 1 to 2 minutes. Continue beating, gradually adding the sugar until it forms stiff and glossy peaks, about 2 minutes more. Spoon the meringue over the top, and create swirls with a spoon or spatula. Place in the oven to brown, about 15 to 20 minutes. Remove to let cool to room temperature, 1 to 2 hours, before slicing. Chill uncovered for up to three days. ANNE BYRN is the New York Times bestselling food writer and author of Baking in the American South. She lives in Nashville, was the former food editor for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, writes the weekly newsletter Between the Layers on Substack, and is a frequent contributor to the Bitter Southerner and Southern Living. If you have questions for Anne, send them to anne@ This article originally appeared on Southern Kitchen: Easy, creamy lemon icebox pie recipe for potlucks, picnics, summer
New York Post
27-04-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Post
World's most scandalous painting returns to the Metropolitan Museum of Art
She's back. After two years of traveling, 'Madame X' — the iconic 1884 portrait by John Singer Sargent — has returned to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it's the star of a new exhibit ,'Sargent and Paris,' which runs through Aug. 3. The painting of a striking young woman in an alluring black dress has long been one of the Met's biggest attractions. Advertisement 6 After two years of traveling, 'Madame X' — the iconic 1884 portrait by John Singer Sargent — has returned to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it's the star of a new exhibit ,'Sargent and Paris,' that opens Sunday and runs through Aug. 3. The Metropolitan Museum of Art 'People get upset when it's not on view,' said Stephanie L. Herdrich, curator of American painting and drawing at the Met. 'I've even seen people with [Madame X] tattooed on their bodies.' In its day, the painting wasn't nearly so highly regarded. Advertisement It was branded 'immodest,' 'indecent' and 'vulgar' when it debuted. One critic deemed it 'the worst, most ridiculous, and most insulting portrait of the year.' Another called it 'simply offensive in its insolent ugliness.' Cartoonists mocked it for months. The new exhibit examines the scandal surrounding the piece, which Sargent painted when he was 28 after spending a decade in the City of Light. The madame who posed for him, Virginie Amélie Gautreau (nee Avegno), was a 25-year-old socialite whose reputation was forever changed by associating with Sargent. Like Sargent, Amélie was American. She hailed from a wealthy French Creole family in New Orleans. After her father died in the Civil War — he was a major in the Confederate Army — her mother took 8-year-old Amélie to Paris, in hopes of finding her a rich husband. Advertisement With her distinctive looks and bold fashion sense, she became the toast of Paris. At 19, Amélie married Pierre Gautreau, a wealthy businessman 20 years her senior, and had a daughter, but that didn't stop her exhibitionism. 6 John Singer Sargent was 28 when he painted 'Madame X.' Corbis/VCG via Getty Images 'She was a professional beauty … what we would call an influencer today,' Herdrich said. 'She wore glamorous, often low-cut dresses, dyed her hair, rouged her ears.' The newspapers — in France and the US — reported where she shopped, where she got her hair done and how she achieved her artificial, lavender-tinged pallor. She attended parties and dinners accompanied by men who were not her husband, which set tongues wagging. Advertisement The only thing Amélie needed to cement her role as the most celebrated woman in France was a portrait, a really sensational one. Sargent was a rising star in the art world. He had arrived in Paris in 1874, and attracted attention for his captivating portraits. In 1881, he painted one of Amélie's rumored lovers, the gynecologist and notorious ladies' man Samuel Jean de Pozzi, in a louche scarlet silk robe. He and Amélie began planning in 1882, going through her wardrobe and picking out a form-fitting, strapless black dress with a deep sweetheart neckline. She would wear no jewelry, save for her wedding band and a diamond crescent in her hair, an allusion to Diana, goddess of the hunt. 6 The painting's model, Virginie Amélie Gautreau, was a glamorous gal about Paris. Sargent labored over the portrait. 'He had the feeling that he needed to outdo himself,' Herdrich said. He had hoped to finish it in time for the 1883 Paris Salon — the town's biggest art event — but it wasn't ready. Amélie quickly grew bored of the whole process. 'I am struggling with the unpaintable beauty and hopeless laziness of Mme. G,' Sargent complained to a friend. When he was finished in 1884, Amélie dubbed it 'a masterpiece.' Sargent submitted it to the 1884 Salon with the title 'Madame ***' — though everyone in Paris knew the subject's identity. Advertisement All of Paris went to the opening, and they were aghast. 'But she's not wearing a chemise [undergarment],' they shouted amid boos and jeers. Most shocking was that Amélie had posed with her shoulder strap falling off. Nevermind that the Salon boasted plenty of nudes: Those were all historical paintings, or nymphs and other fantastical creatures. 6 Cartoonists mocked the painting for months after its debut. The Metropolitan Museum of Art 6 The reception for the painting was so bad, Sargent had trouble getting commissions afterward. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Later that evening, Amélie's mother stormed into Sargent's studio and demanded that Sargent remove the painting from the Salon or her humiliated daughter would 'die of despair.' Sargent defended the work, saying he had painted her 'exactly as she was dressed.' But when the Salon was over, he installed the unsold portrait in his studio and repainted the strap upright. (That's how it's remained.) Advertisement Afterward, Sargent had trouble getting commissions. 'Women are afraid of him lest he should make them too eccentric looking,' wrote his friend Vernon Lee. He moved to London, and his portraits there — and in the U.S. — helped restore his reputation. Still, he would not show 'Madame ***' for another 20 years. Gautreau recovered and was back out on the town weeks later. 'She almost embraced the controversy,' Herdrich said. She went on to pose for more artists, separate from her husband and, eventually be consumed by her own vanity. Advertisement 6 The painting was branded as 'indecent.' The Metropolitan Museum of Art According to the book 'Strapless: John Singer Sargent and the Fall of Madame X' by Deborah David, a 50-something Amélie's had all the mirrors in her home removed after overhearing a woman say that her 'physical splendor had totally disappeared.' She stopped leaving the house and died in 1915 at the age of 56. The next year, Sargent sold her portrait to The Met, asking the museum to retitle it 'Madame X.' 'I suppose it's the best thing I've done,' he later wrote.
