Why it works: Cinnamon and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,380 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Pumpkin Pie
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the filling
In a large bowl, combine the pumpkin, bread crumbs, flour, sweet milk, cinnamon, ginger, and salt.
Beat the egg whites separately until stiff peaks form.
Gently fold the beaten egg whites into the pumpkin mixture.
Fill pie crusts with the mixture.
Bake
Bake until set, about 45 minutes.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Cinnamon + gingertop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,380 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Pumpkin + cinnamontop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,744 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Pumpkin + gingertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,158 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,655 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Pumpkin
- Provides the main body, flavour and colour of the filling.
- Egg whites
- Whipped to stiff peaks, they lighten the filling and help it set with structure.
- Bread crumbs
- Absorb liquid and give the filling body so it holds its shape.
- Flour
- Adds thickening and structure to the filling as it bakes.
- Sweet milk
- Supplies moisture and richness, and helps the filling set when baked.
The step that matters
Gently fold the beaten egg whites into the pumpkin mixture. Whipped egg whites trap air that gives lift. Overmixing deflates them, so the filling becomes dense and less airy after baking.
Swap the ginger
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pumpkin, bread, flour, milk, cinnamon, egg):
- Nutmegfits better
- Cardamomfits better
- Clovefits about as well
- Gingerthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pumpkin, bread, flour, milk, cinnamon, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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