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Dessert

Savoury Dishes

A pumpkin pie made with sliced pumpkin, all-spice, sugar, water, and a light paste.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Payne, A. G. (Arthur Gay), 1840-1894 · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Savoury Dishes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. Peel a ripe pumpkin and chip off the rind or skin.

  2. Halve the pumpkin and remove the seed and fluffy part in the centre, discarding it.

  3. Cut the pumpkin into small, thin slices.

  4. Fill a pie dish with the sliced pumpkin.

  5. Add half a teaspoonful of all-spice and a tablespoonful of sugar, with a small quantity of water.

Assemble and bake

  1. Cover the filling with a nice light paste.

  2. Bake in the ordinary way.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

390Calories
15 gProtein
25 gFat
28 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 7 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Cayenne1 tsp (1.8g)6
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Payne, A. G. (Arthur Gay), 1840-1894. 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. See the original page.

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

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

  2. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Sugar and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Pumpkin (in the method)
Forms the bulk of the filling and softens into a tender, moist body when baked.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the filling brown lightly at the edges.
All-spice
Adds a warm, aromatic flavour that complements the pumpkin.
Eggs
Help the filling set into a firm, sliceable custard as it bakes.

The step that matters

Cut the pumpkin into small, thin slices. Thin, even pieces cook through at the same rate, so the filling becomes tender without leaving firm or undercooked patches under the crust.

“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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