My roommate from nursing school, who has recently moved to Durham, North Carolina, invited me to stay with her during our xxth Reunion at Duke. Thinking of seeing long-time friends and enjoying southern cooking, I immediately said yes.
We had fun driving around the campus, reminiscing about our escapades as undergraduates, and attending reunion events. Of course everything around the campus has changed, but that did not stop us from finding several of our old haunts..
People: Roommates and classmates who know where to go for good food (pies) and share the bond of good memories.
Places: Bullock’s Bar-B-Cue was on top of the list of good places to eat. 
Bullock’s is a family owned southern-style restaurant and, back in the day, was just a short distance from our dorm. A basket of hush puppies 
was on our table before we could sit down, and a quick look at the menu showed us what we came for: fried mac and cheese, stewed corn, green butter beans, Brunswick stew, pork barbecue, and, of course, pie. Bullocks BBQ http://www.bullocks-bbq.com/
Pie: Lemon Chess Pie. I was particularly interested in going to Bullock’s because I wanted to remind my taste buds how a good lemon chess pie should taste. Their last experience of chess pie was when I tried to make the pie, and something happened ……maybe I forgot the sugar, or added too much salt or used the wrong type of cornmeal, but my taste buds said “no thanks.” The pie at Bullocks was creamy, yet tart and had a firm crust. I will try to make a chess pie again, now that I have been to Pie Camp and can make a good crust, and now that my taste buds will know when I have followed the recipe correctly. Bullock’s guards their old family recipe, but the one below is close.
- Crust: your favorite recipe for single crust pie
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 tablespoons flour
- 1 tablespoon cornmeal
- 4 eggs, lightly beaten
- ¼ cup melted butter
- ¼ cup milk
- grated lemon zest from 1 lemon
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Whisk together sugar, flour, and cornmeal in a large bowl.
- Add eggs, melted butter, milk, lemon rind, lemon juice, and salt and whisk well.
- Pour into uncooked pie shell.
- Bake for 15 minutes.
- Reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees and bake for another 40 to 45 minutes.
- Pie will still be fairly jiggly but will firm up as it cools.
- Refrigerate until ready to serve.
