Yes they are like a custard. I have mead them several times although it has been more than 30 years since I have done one. I found my recipe in the cookbook "The Best of The Best of Texas". My father really loved Buttermilk pie.

Does the crust get all soggy like a custard pie?

I made my first Buttermilk pie 15 or so years ago after going to New Orleans. I didn't have it there but it was in a recipe book I bought.

I'm really really surprised it isn't popular everywhere. Everyone that has tried LOVES it and it is dead easy to make. It gets a crunchy sugar top like a creme brulee. Since the filling is so rich I use a shortening crust.

I do not remember the crust being soggy but it has been so long that I am not sure. Aziline, it may have been The Best of the Best of Louisiana book that I found the recipe in. I actually own both the Texas & Louisiana versions of the cookbooks.

This is the recipe I saw: Lemon Buttermilk Pie (Easy, Made in One Bowl) - Fifteen Spatulas

Yes it's a custard. There's no reason for the crust to get soggy--that is, one uses an unbaked crust for custard, whether sweet or quiche. I can see the wetness of custard mix making a baked crust soggy. For unbaked, the fat should protect the crust from the liquid. Maybe the crust is too lean?

There are a whole category of pies made from "ingredients" for when one doesn't have fillings. The best known are chess pie (South) and Shoofly pie (North). I've never had buttermilk pie but it sounds good!

I made Paula Deans buttermilk pie once and it was so awfully sweet that I could not eat it. I use only buttermilk in all of my baking, so not adverse to buttermilk, but that pie! too sweet!!!!

I think a lot of old recipes are too sweet for me. Like they were showing off their wealth back when sugar was relatively expensive. You can scant the sugar by at least a third in recipes that read overly sweet, without screwing up the recipe.

It is sweet so we cut small pieces. The crust doesn't get soggy. The filling sets up nicely and isn't runny. I like to use a raw sugar like Zulka.

My recipe is from the Oak Alley Plantation Cookbook.

I made the lemon buttermilk pie recipe yesterday. Meh. It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't that great. I'd much rather have a regular old-fashioned custard pie, that is by far better IMO.

Sometimes it's an exact match of recipe, ingrdients, oven and baker to make the magic happen. For instance, I wonder if plain vs. cultured buttermilk makes a difference.

What didn't you like about it? The ingredients seem like a normal custard pie except for the buttermilk.

My store offers two kinds of buttermilk--lowfat and Bulgarian, which is a full fat milk. For years I used the lowfat because I didn't know what Bulgarian was. A few months ago I tried the Bulgarian. Though it didn't make much difference in pancakes and waffles, I think I'd stick to Bulgarian for baking.

"The ingredients seem like a normal custard pie except for the buttermilk."

There's no butter or flour in custard pie. Not mine, anyway. And 1/2 the sugar.

"What didn't you like about it? "

IDK exactly -- I just didn't particulary care for it. I can't put my finger on whether it was the combination of sweet and citrus I didn't like, or whether it was too sweet, or both.

Oh yeah, that's a lot more sugar. Maybe she thought it needed it because of buttermilk's sourness and the lemon juice.

The flour must be for thickening but I bet Bulgarian buttermilk would let you omit it.

Bulgarian buttermilk is also cultured.

As is "regular buttermilk". And "gourmet butter" as in Irish or Amish is made from cultured cream.