Subject: Char House Strawberry Pie
From: Susan
Date: 2/29/2020, 4:26 PM
To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com
On 2/29/2020 2:46 PM, Susan wrote:
Thanks for doing this!!! I love that I have recipe for Rio Vista salad dressing.
Now I'd love to have the Char House Strawberry Pie recipe. It was a little lunch
counter in Sandy Springs, GA which closed in the early 70's.
And one more that may be impossible.... Howard Johnson's used to make "freezer
section foods", chicken croquettes with gravy in particular.
Again this is so cool and many thanks!!!
Susan
Hello Susan,
I found a recipe for Char House Strawberry Pie on this site that has a photo of a printed recipe: Char House Strawberry Pie
The fact that the recipe does not say it is from "The Char House" and the wording of the recipe make me
think that it may be a copycat rather than an actual recipe from the restaurant. The recipe is below.
I found another copycat recipe for the pie here:
Strawberry Cream Pie
As for the Howard Johnson's chicken croquettes, the recipe is already on my site here:
6-02-2008
Phaed
The Char House Strawberry Pie
Cook the pie shell as directed. I like to use the Pillsbury pie crust that you roll out onto a pie dish
and bake. Cool.
Mix all together:
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 Tablespoon flour
2 Tablespoon cornstarch
Mix together:
3 beaten eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups milk
Mix egg mixture and add to dry ingredients. Cook over double boiler
until thick. Put sliced strawberries on bottom of baked pie shell
and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Then add custard filling over fruit.
Top with sweetened whipping cream and refrigerate. It needs to be
refrigerated several hours or overnight to be sure it will set.
To Make Whipping Cream
Use 1/2 pint of heavy whipping cream, sweeten with sugar to your taste
and beat until it is stiff.
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Subject: Char House Strawberry Pie
From: Anna
Date: 1/8/2022, 2:39 PM
To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com
I grew up in Sandy Springs and I searched for this recipe for years
before it was given to me. This recipe was a heavily guarded secret!
The story goes that the owners thought they might open another restaurant
one day and make this pie so they did not want to share the recipe..
There was a guy named Kenny who made the pies for the Char House.
I ran into him when he took a job as a beer truck driver years later
and he told me the story. He said that he used the same recipe for their
banana pies also. The only other restaurant that I knew of that had the
same recipe was the White Castle in downtown Atlanta.
Anna
Strawberry Pie from the Char House of Sandy Springs, Georgia
Bake crust, let cool (or, use a premade frozen pie crust)
custard:
1/3 cup cold milk
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup hot cream (whipping cream)
1/3 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
Mix flour and sugar, then add cold milk and mix well.
Add eggs, mix till smooth
Add heated cream
Put in double boiler (water already to a boil)
Cook and stir until thick
Add salt and vanilla
Let cool
Put one layer of sliced strawberries covering the pie crust
Spread cooled custard over strawberries
Put another layer of sliced strawberries covering the custard
Top with heavy whipped cream (preferable freshly made)
Refrigerate and let set (several hours or overnight)
Garnish with strawberries