Why it works: Ginger and cinnamon 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 ↓
New England 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.
Prepare the pumpkin
Peel and cut the pumpkin into small pieces.
Place the pumpkin in a kettle with a little water and cook for 6 to 8 hours, stirring frequently to prevent burning.
Once cooked, rub the pumpkin through a colander.
Make the filling
In a bowl, combine the pumpkin puree, milk, eggs, sugar, ginger, and cinnamon.
Mix well until smooth and pour into a pie crust.
Bake
Bake at 350°F (175°C) until set.
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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Ginger + cinnamontop 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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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).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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
- Forms the bulk of the filling and gives the pie its body and flavor.
- Eggs
- Coagulate when baked, setting the filling into a sliceable custard.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and richness, helping create a smooth, creamy custard.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and contributes to its browning and texture.
- Cinnamon
- Adds warm, aromatic spice flavor to the filling.
The step that matters
Cooking the pumpkin until it is soft and smooth. Pumpkin cooked too briefly or left with excess water yields a loose, watery filling that may not set. Thorough cooking and straining through a colander concentrate the puree and give a smooth texture.
Swap the ginger
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pumpkin, milk, egg, sugar, cinnamon):
- Nutmegfits better
- Cardamomfits better
- Gingerthe original
- Clovefits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against pumpkin, milk, egg, sugar, cinnamon. 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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