Chess Pie

“I associate this recipe with my Kentucky heritage,” said Carolyn Kellermann Millhiser, Joseph Lodge’s great- granddaughter. “My mother grew up on a farm and in my youth in the 1940s, I would spend several weeks every summer on the farm.” Her mother, Lynda King Kellermann, would make this recipe using staple ingredients found in a Southern kitchen pantry eggs, milk, and butter from the farm; and flour, cornmeal, and vanilla from the store. Cornmeal is what distinguishes this pie from other custard pies. This recipe uses our Basic Pie Dough.

Ingredients

Basic Pie Dough or 9-inch prepared pie crust

• 5 large egg yolks
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup whole milk

½ cup salted butter, melted

• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon white cornmeal
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

1. Prepare Basic Pie Dough.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit.
3. Beat together the egg yolks and half the sugar, then beat in the remaining sugar.
4. Beat in the milk, melted butter, flour, cornmeal, and vanilla.
5. 79
6. Pour the filling into the prepared pie crust.
7. Bake until the crust is lightly browned and the filling is bubbling (it won’t look entirely set at

this point), about 55-60 minute.

1. Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack until the filling sets, about an hour.
2. Serve at room temperature.

Notes

From the Lodge Cast Iron cookbook I picked up during my visit to the Lodge Museum of Cast Iron in South Pittsburg, Tennessee (June 2026). Contributed by Lynda King Kellermann. Recommended cookware: Seasoned Cast Iron.