In this month’s Newsletter Story I write about British Christmas pantomime theatre, and all it’s glorious slapstick comedy. And my favourite slapstick comedy routine has to be the custard pie fight. Along with slipping on a banana skin, the pie fight is one of the most famous comedy routines of all time. It appears in cartoons, TV shows, and movies dating back more than one hundred years. See below for my favourite on-screen custard pie fights.

This recipe elevates the classic custard pie to a more fun party version, with Bailey’s in the custard and whipped cream topping, and optional homemade honeycomb and cranberries for decoration.

Equipment Needed:

• Oven
• Rolling pin
• Mixing bowls
• Saucepan
• Whisk
• Sieve
• 22cm pie tin
• Parchment paper
• Baking beads or rice for par-baking
• If you are making honeycomb, a 10cm square baking tray

Ingredients:

Method. First make the pastry:

1. Combine the flour and sugar in a large bowl, add the butter and with cold hands rub in the butter to make fine breadcrumbs.
2. Add the cream and egg yolk and mix to combine. If the mix is dry, add a little more cream or if it is sticky add more flour until you have a smooth pastry.
3. Thoroughly grease the tart tin with soft butter.
4. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to 1cm thick until it is 5cm wider than the tart tin. If the pastry is soft, use more flour when rolling. Using the rolling pin (see photo below), lay the pastry over the tart tin and gently press it into the bottom and sides.
5. Leave about 1cm of pastry overhanging and trim away the rest. Prick the base of the pastry all over with a fork.
6. Chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
7. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C.
8. Line the pastry with parchment paper, add the baking beads/rice and bake for 15 minutes.
9. Remove from the oven, carefully remove the parchment paper and baking beads/rice and bake for at least 5 minutes, until the pastry is brown and cooked. The custard filling is wet so the pie case needs to be very well baked or you will have a soggy bottom. Remove from the oven and leave the tart case on the oven tray.

Make the custard:

1. Pre-heat oven to 140℃.
2. Put the cream in a saucepan, scrape out the seeds from the vanilla pod and add the seeds and the pod to the cream. Heat on a gentle heat until the cream is steaming, but not boiling.
3. Meanwhile, whisk the whole eggs, yolks and sugar in a large bowl until smooth.
4. Add the Irish Cream to the cream and mix.
5. Add the cream to the eggs and mix well.
6. Strain the mixture through a sieve and into a jug.
7. Carefully pour the custard into the pie case and put in the oven, without spilling the filling.
8. Bake for 30 minutes and check the custard. You are looking for a slight wobble in the middle. Continue baking if needed until you get to the slight wobble.
9. Remove from the oven, allow to cool fully at room temperature, carefully remove the pie from the tart case, carefully place the pie on your serving plate or wooden board and cool in the fridge for at least 2 hours.

Make the honeycomb (optional):

• Put 1 TSP of baking soda in a small bowl. With the back of a spoon, crush any lumps so you have a fine powder.
• Grease a 10cm square baking tray well with soft butter.
• Put the sugar and golden syrup in a heavy bottomed saucepan. Heat on a low heat, stirring occasionally until the sugar has melted. Turn up the heat to medium and continue cooking until you get a deep amber coloured caramel.
• Remove the pan from the heat, add the baking soda and immediately stir very well. It will bubble up a lot. Immediately pour the mix into the baking tray.
• Allow to cool, remove the honey comb from the tray and smash it into small pieces.
• Store any leftover honeycomb in an airtight tupperware.

Here’s a useful video for honey comb making:

Make the whipped cream topping: put 200ml of cream, 1.5 TBS of sugar and 2 TBS of Baileys in a bowl and whisk until you get your desired consistency of whipped cream. I like mine quite loose.

Just before serving, take the custard pie from the fridge, add whipped cream in the middle and decorate with honey comb and dried cranberries, if using.

Now For Some Pie Fights!!

This one has slipping on a banana skin and a pie fight. The genius of Laurel & Hardy.

And now Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon and Natalie Wood in The Great Race (1965).

And lastly, Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder in the Mel Brooks directed western comedy Blazing Saddles.