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Dessert

Pumpkin Pie

A baked pie made from pumpkin, butter, milk, eggs, sugar, molasses, spices, and optional brandy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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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

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare the pumpkin

  1. Peel the pumpkin and remove the seeds and soft parts.

  2. Cut the pumpkin into pieces and place in a saucepan with cold water.

  3. Stew or steam the pumpkin until tender, then drain well.

  4. Strain the pumpkin through a colander.

Make the filling

  1. While the pulp is hot, add melted butter, milk, beaten eggs, powdered sugar, molasses, ginger, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

  2. If needed, add more sugar to taste.

  3. Optionally, stir in brandy.

Bake

  1. Pour the mixture into a deep pie plate.

  2. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 30 minutes.

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. Ginger + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,380 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Pumpkin + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,744 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

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

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

  4. Pumpkin + gingertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,158 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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

Pumpkin
Forms the bulk of the filling, giving the pie its body and main flavour.
Eggs
Set the filling as they cook, giving it a firm, sliceable structure.
Rich milk
Adds moisture and creaminess, softening the set custard texture.
Melted butter
Contributes richness and a smooth, tender mouthfeel to the filling.
Molasses
Adds moisture, dark colour and a deep sweetness with mild bitterness.
Powdered sugar
Sweetens the filling and dissolves smoothly into the warm pulp.

The step that matters

Drain the pumpkin well and add the other ingredients while the pulp is hot. Excess water dilutes the filling and can keep it from setting firmly, so a well-drained pulp gives a thicker, sliceable pie. Warm pulp also blends more evenly with the butter and sugar.

Swap the pumpkin

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, milk, egg, sugar, molasses, ginger, cinnamon):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, milk, egg, sugar, molasses, ginger, 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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