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 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.
Prepare
Boil the pumpkin until well done, then press it through a coarse sieve.
In a bowl, combine the pumpkin, sugar, cinnamon, cloves, milk, and egg.
Add the beaten egg white just before baking.
Bake
Line a pie pan with the crust and pour in the pumpkin mixture.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) until set.
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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Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,189 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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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 + milktop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,655 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Pumpkin + clovetop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Stewed pumpkin
- Provides the bulk and body of the filling.
- Egg
- Sets the custard as it bakes, giving the filling structure.
- Egg white
- Adds lightness and helps the filling set with a softer texture.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and creaminess, helping the filling set smoothly.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps balance the spices.
The step that matters
Add the beaten egg white just before baking. Egg proteins set with heat, so the filling should be baked soon after mixing. Adding the egg white too early can thin the mixture and make the set less even.
Swap the pumpkin
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, cinnamon, clove, milk, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Pumpkinthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, cinnamon, clove, milk, egg. 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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