Why it works: Pumpkin and cinnamon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,744 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓
Pumpkin Pie
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the filling
In a bowl, mix together the pumpkin, salt, mace, cinnamon, sugar, and beaten egg.
Pour in the boiling cream and milk, and mix well.
If the pumpkin is watery, add the flour.
Bake
Quickly fill a pie plate with the mixture.
Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) until the pie rises well in the middle.
Optionally, add a rim of puff pastry around the edge of the plate before baking.
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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Pumpkin + cinnamontop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,744 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Cinnamon + flourtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Mace + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,611 recipes
Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
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Cinnamon + milktop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Provides the bulk and main flavour of the filling.
- Egg
- Sets the custard as it bakes, giving the filling structure.
- Cream and milk
- Add moisture and richness, giving the filling a smooth, tender texture.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and adds to its browning.
- Flour
- Thickens the filling when the pumpkin releases extra liquid.
The step that matters
Pour in the boiling cream and milk and mix well. Hot liquid begins cooking the beaten egg as it is mixed in, so the filling thickens evenly. Mixing well keeps the egg distributed so the pie sets smoothly rather than in lumps.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pumpkin, cinnamon, sugar, egg, cream, milk, flour):
- Nutmegfits better
- Cardamomfits better
- Gingerfits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pumpkin, cinnamon, sugar, egg, cream, milk, flour. 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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