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Whether it’s ruining the ratatouille, charring the turkey for Thanksgiving or forgetting that pesky spoonful of baking soda, most dinner party hosts have had their share of kitchen disasters. Washington Heights resident Paul Kittas hopes his kitchen accident will make him rich.
“Nothing is going to make me more money in the short run than this pie,” Kittas says with infectious enthusiasm as he splashes around bowls of lime juice and heavy cream in his kitchen. Since the accident, Kittas has been whipping up what he calls the “key lime dream pie,” for bakeries and restaurant owners, looking for a partner to help him produce the pies on a grand scale. And with over 15 years of experience as an electronics salesman he might be in the perfect position to make his dreams of selling the pie in stores across the country a reality.
He already ponied up the money to trademark the name, designed a logo of a flying pie, and had a tailor make him a spiffy chef’s uniform with lime green trim to wow potential clients with his sales pitch.
Armed with slogans like: “Key Lime Dream Pie, the pie you have been dreaming about” and “It’s 490 calories, it’s almost healthy,” Kittas said he has given out over 500 free slices of his invented pie.
The way Kittas tells it, the sun was setting on a beautiful day of barbequing in August of 2008, as he served his famous key lime pie to guests on his terrace overlooking the Hudson River on Riverside Drive West. But this time it was clear that there was something very different with this particular tart tart. His guests couldn’t stop talking about how light, fluffy and full of body the pie was.
“It’s so airy it gets air bubbles on the sides,” he said.
The specifics of his accident Kittas guards as a trade secret, but he did let out that it involves the ordering and temperature of certain ingredients during the mixing process.
A few days after the barbecue, he went back into the kitchen to re-create what he had done.
Traditional versions of the pie, named after the small, extra tart limes from the Florida Keys, mix condensed milk with lime juice to create the thickness of the filling and employ an egg-white meringue on top.
Kittas’ recipe avoids these traditions, mixing a froth of egg whites and cream with the lime juice and a gelatin stabilizer to mimic the thickening effect. The result is one tall fluffy pie filling in a graham cracker, butter and sugar crust.
Kittas grew up in Ft. Lauderdale Fl., and like most Floridians he takes his key lime pie seriously. In 2006 key lime pie was declared the official state pie. Initially he thought about starting his marketing campaign there but “they have a key lime pie ego down there,” he said.
Striking a deal to make some of the pies with a bakery in New Jersey, Kittas made weekly trips on Saturdays last fall to hand out free slices and sell some of his pies.
The next big step, he says, after securing a production bakery is to convince restaurant and bakery owners to stock his product.
He’s confident the pie will be the easiest thing he’s ever sold in his life.
“It’s like a salesman’s dream,” he said. “It’s something I created in my kitchen.”
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