Name: Pumpkin or Squash Pie. No. 1
Ingredients: 3 cups stewed and strained pumpkin; 2 cups milk; 2 eggs; 1 cup sugar; ½ teaspoon cinnamon; 1 teaspoon salt; pinch of cloves

Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Pumpkin or Squash Pie. No. 1

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

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Line 2 pie plates with pie crust.

Make the filling

In a bowl, combine the pumpkin, milk, eggs, sugar, cinnamon, salt, and cloves, then mix well until smooth.

Bake

Pour the mixture into the prepared pie crusts.
Bake in the moderate oven 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.

Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,189 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Pumpkin + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,744 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,655 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together30,779 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Pumpkin + clovetop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together736 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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

What each ingredient does

Pumpkin: Provides the bulk, moisture and body of the filling.
Eggs: Coagulate in the oven to set the filling into a sliceable custard.
Milk: Adds moisture and dairy richness that keeps the custard tender.
Sugar: Sweetens the filling and contributes to its smooth texture and browning.

The step that matters

Bake until just set. Eggs set as they heat, and overbaking pushes the custard past that point, causing cracks, a grainy texture and weeping liquid. Pull the pie when the centre still wobbles slightly, as it will finish setting as it cools.

Swap the pumpkin

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

Vanillafits better
Raisinfits better
Figfits better
Pumpkinthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, egg, sugar, cinnamon, clove. 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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Clove Cake53 recipes

Cinnamon Cake42 recipes

White Cake431 recipes

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Pumpkin or Squash Pie. No. 1