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
Ingredients
Directions
Make the filling
Stir the sugar, nutmeg, salt, ginger, and cinnamon into the pumpkin.
Add the milk and the beaten egg, mixing well.
Bake
Pour the mixture into a pie crust and bake 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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Nutmeg + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,917 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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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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Nutmeg + gingertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,324 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Pumpkin + gingertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Pumpkin
- Provides the bulk and characteristic flavour and moisture of the filling.
- Egg
- Sets the custard as it cooks, giving the filling its firm structure.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and richness, and helps form a smooth, creamy custard.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and balances the spices.
The step that matters
Bake until set. Egg proteins set as the custard heats; underbaking leaves a runny filling, while overbaking can make it cracked and grainy. Baking only until the centre barely wobbles lets it finish setting as it cools.
Swap the pumpkin
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, milk, nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Lemonfits better
- Pumpkinthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, milk, nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon, egg. 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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