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Dessert

Pumpkin Pie

A pie made with pumpkin, eggs, butter, milk, sugar, brandy, Madeira or sherry, baked in a crust.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Brandy and sherry are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,209 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Pumpkin Pie

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderately hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderately hot oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the pumpkin

  1. Cut the pumpkin into large pieces.

  2. Peel the pumpkin pieces.

  3. Place the peeled pieces in cold water over low heat.

  4. Simmer gently until tender.

  5. Strain the pumpkin through a colander, then through coarse muslin.

Make the filling

  1. In a bowl, mix the strained pumpkin with the beaten eggs, butter, and sugar until well combined.

Bake

  1. Pour the mixture into a pie crust.

  2. Bake at 350°F (175°C) until set.

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.

  1. Brandy + sherrytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,209 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Butter + sherrytop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,505 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  4. Milk + sherrytop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,479 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).

  5. Pumpkin + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,404 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity).

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 main flavour, and its fibre gives the filling body.
Eggs
Set on baking to give the pie its firm, sliceable custard structure.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smooth, tender texture in the filling.
White sugar
Sweetens the filling and helps it brown lightly at the edges.
Sweet milk
Adds moisture and dilutes the custard so it sets softly rather than dry.

The step that matters

Bake until set. Eggs set as they heat, so underbaking leaves the filling runny and overbaking can make it cracked and rubbery. Check that the centre barely wobbles before removing.

Swap the pumpkin

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, butter, milk, sugar, brandy, sherry):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Apricotfits better
  4. Pumpkinthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, butter, milk, sugar, brandy, sherry. 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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