As long as I can remember, my grandmother's maid, Emma, would make Tarte a la Bouille pies. I could live on them. They are delicious warm, they are delicious cold. When I think of pies, I think of this. It's much different than what we think of in a traditional pie. This contains custard with a sweet dough crust. (We sometimes call them Cream Pie.) Emma says she didn't have a recipe. We were all panicked at her funeral. When I lived in Birmingham in my late 20s, I ate at a "Meat and Three". We didn't have those kinds of words and menu options in south Louisiana. It was good, and I even chose a dessert. One looked so similar...
Mom gave me this recipe when I lived in Atlanta. She said she's had this recipe since high school. I lived in Buckhead with my cousin, Carmen, for 8 weeks the summer before my senior year in college. I had an internship at a corporate Psychology firm downtown, and it was fun playing house, trying new recipes with my cousin. Carmen thought my easy recipes were delicious! This was also the summer that I made broiled shrimp and 72 hours later, she frantically rushed me to the emergency room, clearing everyone in the way of her "Whit Whit" getting the help she required. Her way of calming me was, "Whit, this is bad! Can you breathe? You look like Hitch!...
