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 ↓
Pumpkin Pie
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°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 the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Bake the pie crust for a few minutes until lightly golden.
Make the filling
In a large bowl, combine the pumpkin, eggs, sugar, ginger, cinnamon, molasses, milk, melted butter, and salt. Mix well until smooth.
Pour the filling into the pre-baked crust.
Bake
Bake for 45-50 minutes or until the filling is 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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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Pumpkin + gingertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,158 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Cinnamon + milktop 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
- Eggs
- Set the filling into a firm custard as they cook.
- Pumpkin
- Provides the bulk, moisture and main flavour of the filling.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps soften the texture of the custard.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and richness, helping the filling set smoothly.
- Molasses
- Adds depth, dark colour and a caramel-like sweetness.
The step that matters
Bake until the filling is set. Eggs thicken the custard as they heat. Underbaking leaves a runny center, while overbaking can make the filling cracked and grainy. Check for a set edge with a slight wobble in the middle.
Swap the pumpkin
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, ginger, cinnamon, molasses, milk, butter):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Pumpkinthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, ginger, cinnamon, molasses, milk, butter. 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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