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Dessert

Pumpkin Pie

A baked pie filled with a mixture of mashed pumpkin, butter, molasses, milk, eggs, spices, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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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

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the pumpkin

  1. Peel and cut the pumpkin into small pieces.

  2. Steam the pumpkin until soft, then strain through a colander.

Make the filling

  1. In a bowl, combine 2 cups of the mashed pumpkin, melted butter, molasses, milk, beaten eggs, cinnamon, ginger, and salt.

  2. Pour the mixture into a pie crust.

Bake

  1. Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 15 to 20 minutes.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Cinnamon + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,380 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Pumpkin + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,744 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  3. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Pumpkin + gingertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,158 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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 and smooth, thick texture of the filling.
Eggs
Set as they bake, giving the filling its firm, sliceable structure.
Milk
Adds moisture and creaminess, keeping the filling smooth rather than dry.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smoother mouthfeel in the filling.
Molasses
Adds sweetness and a deeper, caramel-like flavour and colour.
Cinnamon
Contributes warm aromatic flavour that complements the pumpkin.

The step that matters

Baking until just set. Egg proteins set as the filling heats. Overbaking tightens them too far, which can make the pie cracked, grainy, or weepy as it cools.

Swap the pumpkin

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, molasses, milk, egg, cinnamon, ginger):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Pumpkinthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, molasses, milk, egg, cinnamon, ginger. 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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