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Dessert

Squash Pie

A custard pie made with stewed squash, milk, butter, sugar, spices, and eggs, baked in a pastry crust.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Squash 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 filling

  1. Heat the milk and cinnamon in a double boiler for 20 minutes.

  2. Strain the stewed squash and mix it with salt, sugar, butter, and spices.

  3. Pour the heated milk mixture into the squash mixture and remove the cinnamon stick.

  4. Beat the mixture well and let it cool.

  5. Once cool, add the thoroughly beaten eggs.

Bake

  1. Line a deep pie plate with pastry and pour the squash mixture into it.

  2. Bake for 45 minutes at 350°F (175°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. Nutmeg + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Nutmeg + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Ginger + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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 structure and body.
Stewed squash
Forms the bulk of the filling and provides moisture and its own sweet, earthy flavor.
Milk
Supplies liquid and richness, helping the filling set into a smooth custard.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the custard brown lightly during baking.
Butter
Adds fat for richer flavor and a silkier texture in the filling.

The step that matters

Let the milk mixture cool before adding the eggs. Eggs added to very hot liquid can scramble or cook unevenly, leaving a grainy custard. Cooling first lets the eggs blend smoothly and set evenly in the oven.

Swap the ginger

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

  1. Cardamomfits better
  2. Allspicefits better
  3. Gingerthe original
  4. Marjoramfits less well

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