Skip to main content
Dessert

Virginia Pumpkin Pies

A pumpkin pie made with pumpkin, milk, eggs, sugar, molasses, ginger, lemon rind or nutmeg, and baked in a crust.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Ginger and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,154 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Virginia Pumpkin Pies

Oven, in the book's wordsA very hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a very hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the pumpkin

  1. Remove the seeds from the pumpkin and cut the rind away.

  2. Cut the pumpkin into thin, narrow bits and stew over medium heat with a little water until soft.

  3. If any water remains, turn it off and let the pumpkin steam over low heat for 10 minutes.

  4. Once cool, strain the pumpkin through a sieve.

Make the filling

  1. Sweeten the pumpkin with sugar and molasses.

  2. In a separate bowl, beat together the sugar and eggs.

  3. Add ginger, lemon rind or nutmeg, and salt to the mixture.

  4. Combine the pumpkin with 1 quart of milk and the egg mixture.

  5. Heat the pumpkin mixture until scalding hot before pouring it into the crust.

Bake

  1. Bake in a very hot oven at 400°F (200°C).

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 + lemontop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,154 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Molasses + gingertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  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
Forms the bulk of the filling and gives the custard its body and flavor.
Eggs
Set the custard as they cook, giving the pie its firm structure.
Milk
Adds liquid and richness, softening the custard's texture as it sets.
Sugar
Sweetens the filling and helps balance the spices.
Molasses
Adds depth, dark color and a slightly bitter sweetness to the filling.

The step that matters

Heat the pumpkin mixture until scalding hot before pouring it into the crust.. Eggs set when heated, so warming the filling first helps the custard bake evenly and reduces the risk of a runny centre after baking.

Swap the pumpkin

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

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

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

You might also like

Lemon CakeLemon Cake228 recipesGinger CookiesGinger Cookies213 recipesLemon IceLemon Ice147 recipesLemon SherbetLemon Sherbet103 recipes