Name: Pumpkin Pie
Ingredients: 2 cups cooked pumpkin; ¼ teaspoon nutmeg; 2 cups milk; ½ teaspoon salt; 2 eggs; 1 teaspoon ginger; 2 tablespoons molasses; ½ teaspoon cinnamon; ½ cup sugar

Why it works: Nutmeg and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 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

Line a pie plate with pastry and add a rim.

Make the filling

Mix the pumpkin, nutmeg, milk, salt, eggs, ginger, molasses, cinnamon, and sugar in the order given.
Fill the crust with the pumpkin mixture.

Bake

Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 40 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.

Nutmeg + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together11,917 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Ginger + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,380 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Pumpkin + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,744 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Nutmeg + gingertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,324 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Pumpkin + gingertop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,158 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs: Set the custard so the filling firms as it bakes.
Cooked pumpkin: Provides the bulk and body of the filling.
Milk: Adds moisture and helps form a smooth, creamy custard.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and helps balance the spices.
Molasses: Adds depth, color, and a richer sweetness.

Swap the pumpkin

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

Raisinfits better
Vanillafits better
Figfits better
Pumpkinthe original

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