Why it works: Ginger and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,620 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
How to Dry Pumpkin and Make the Pie
Ingredients
Directions
Cut the pumpkin into pieces and stew until soft and dry.
Pound the pumpkin and strain it through a colander.
Grease pie pans and spread the pumpkin puree to a thickness of ¼ inch.
Dry the pumpkin puree, then roll it up and store in a tight box or bag to keep insects out.
To make the pie, soak a roll of dried pumpkin in sweet milk for about 2 hours.
Add 1 egg, 1 tablespoon of sugar, 1 teaspoon of ginger, and 1 teaspoon of allspice to the soaked pumpkin and mix well.
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 + allspicetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,620 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).
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Pumpkin + allspicetop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together259 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Pumpkin + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,404 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity).
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Sugar + gingertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together14,054 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Sugar and ginger barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 14,054 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
Swap the allspice
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pumpkin, milk, egg, sugar, ginger):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Cardamomfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Allspicethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pumpkin, milk, egg, sugar, ginger. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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