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Dessert

Old-fashioned Pumpkin Pie

A custard filling of milk, eggs, pumpkin, molasses, ginger, and allspice baked in a pie crust.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Ginger and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,620 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Old-fashioned Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

Make the filling

  1. In a large bowl, combine the milk, eggs, sifted pumpkin, molasses, ginger, and allspice. Mix until well combined.

  2. Pour the mixture into the pie crust.

Bake

  1. Bake for 45-50 minutes or 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. Ginger + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,620 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Pumpkin + allspicetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together259 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Molasses + allspicetop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,508 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Set the custard as they cook, giving the filling its firm, sliceable structure.
Milk
Provides the liquid base and moisture that the eggs set into a smooth custard.
Pumpkin
Supplies the main body, moisture and earthy flavor of the filling.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, depth and color to the filling.

The step that matters

Bake until set. Eggs thicken the filling as they heat, so the pie should be baked until the center is set. Underbaking leaves it runny, while overbaking can cause cracking and a rubbery texture.

Swap the pumpkin

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

  1. Orangefits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Lemonfits better
  4. Pumpkinthe original

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