Gosh Flowerpot, don't depend on everything Martha does as being foolproof. If it was, she wouldn't have spent all that time in jail. 
Seriously, I have never made lemon pie with anything but a box pudding mix except when I owned a cafe and then we used canned filling. I make all my other pies from scratch, but not lemon. Mark seemed to have the answer.
Diane
I was actually watching martha the other day and someone in the audiance actually asked her about this. She says that there is really no way around it, but adding a little extra sugar to the meringue, or even making a cooked meringue can help.
Good luck
Ash
I was actually watching martha the other day and someone in the audiance actually asked her about this. She says that there is really no way around it, but adding a little extra sugar to the meringue, or even making a cooked meringue can help.
Good luck
Ash
Maybe I am not understanding the problem. Is it the filling or the meringue that was watery? I thought you meant the filling was watery. If it is the meringue, I definitely would not have an answer. I have made it with the shell and filling both hot and put on the meringue. I have made it with a cool shell, let the filling cool, and put on the meringue. I have tried more sugar in the meringue. Tried it with or without cream of tarter. No method is foolproof. I think it is just fate as to whether the meringue "weeps" as my mother always referred to it. Sometimes it will remain real tall, sometimes it falls flat. I made several pies a day and never found a foolproof method.
Diane
My last reply was off the top of my head, and as usual when I do things like that, I got it wrong. Upon review of the episode I quoted, AB says watery lemon filling is due to UNDERcooking the filling. If you want to get an education on lemon meringue pie, here is a link to a transcript from that episode http://www.goodeatsfanpage.com/Season7/Pie/i_pie_trans.htm
probably way more info than you would really want, but I just love Alton Brown.
Mark
Thanks Mark. That was really informative. I do use lard for my crust but never butter and lard. Will have to try it next time I get the urge to make pies.
I love CC. It's not just about cake..........
Diane
Thanks so much for all your replies. I'm not giving up on this recipe because it was the best tasting I've ever had--even my company wanted the recipe but I don't want to share it till I can figure out how to have a nice filling with no water in it. Perhaps I did cook it too long. I'll try again for sure.
Have a nice day !
Flower
Because of the difficulty of cooking lemon meringue pie filling to the precise temperature required in order not to become liquid, I've switched to a lemon curd filling. I use Ina Garten's filling for Lemon Meringue Tart. Yum, yum, y'all. Try it. You will thank me later. 
(scroll down to lemon filling)
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_32264,00.html
I have this problem about 75% of the time and I've tried everything I can think of to get the cooking timing right. I've used all different kinds of box filling and made my own as well. Last time I used canned....didn't like the way it tasted at all!
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