It was while investigating reports of a ghost in the lavish mansion built by William "Bill Money" Curry in 1855 that Sloan encountered the original recipe for Key lime pie. Then, after months of research, he founded Key West's Original Ghost Tour. Sloan eventually made thousands of pies and perfected his recipe before graduating from high school.Īfter studying hospitality management at Florida International University, Sloan worked as a caterer before taking a job on a cruise ship line based in Cape Canaveral, but he eventually quit his job and moved to Key West to go into the ghost business. I wasn't a baker, but bakers made $6.50 an hour and counter boys made $3.50, so you bet I wanted to be a baker."Īs he rushed to keep up with demand, someone told young Sloan that Key lime pie is quick and easy to make and at some point between his cuts and burns and stumbles, he made his first pie. The baker was a narcoleptic and fell asleep and broke his arm and couldn't bake. They made their own hot dog and hamburger buns, and desserts. "I was a counter boy at Purdy's, a hamburger-type restaurant. "But history and authenticity are not the same thing. "I love history and I take it quite seriously, especially the history of the Keys," he said. One had bacon the other contained habanero peppers. As promised, Sloan arrived with a pie in either hand. Neither querulous nor bookish, Sloan is 41 years old and has the perky enthusiasm of a cruise-ship director, which, it turns out, he was earlier in his career. We agreed to meet at a café the following day. "They do not make the same pie."Ī purist! I could almost see him, querulous and bookish, the lone defender of a fading pie form. "They don't have the same subtlety, the same floral tones as a real Key lime," said Sloan. Those were wiped out by a hurricane in 1926." Instead of Key limes, Persian limes were planted. Most of what you find around here are not indigenous limes. He confirmed this assertion when I reached him by telephone, adding: "The term possession makes me nervous. ![]() I'd been told that Sloan, the author of 10 books, including The Ghosts of Key West and Quit Your Job and Move to Key West, was in possession of the original Key lime pie recipe. Sloan, who considers himself the world's foremost Key lime pie authority. Formerly home to Ernest Hemingway and Tennessee Williams, the furthermost Key is now also home to David L. ![]() I was sure this canned ingredient was a contemporary replacement for thick, fresh yellow cream and I headed to Key West to investigate. Consider the case of Key lime pie.Īlmost without exception modern recipes call for a filling made with sweetened condensed milk. Oddly, when I'm traveling around the country collecting recipes and food stories, I experience something closer to "past-ism." I'm vulnerable to the conviction that modernity is a pale and artificial imitation of a rich and natural past. H istorians warn about the dangers of "present-ism," the tendency to interpret the past through the filter of present-day values and knowledge.
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