Why it works: Cinnamon and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,380 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. 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. 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
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
Beat the egg white until frothy and set aside.
Make the filling
In a bowl, combine the egg yolk, pumpkin, milk, cinnamon, ginger, molasses, and salt. Mix well until smooth.
Gently fold in the beaten egg white.
Bake
Pour the mixture into a pie crust and bake for 30-40 minutes or 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 + gingertop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,380 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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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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Pumpkin + gingertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,158 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,655 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Cinnamon + molassestop 11% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,928 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
- Egg
- Egg white adds lift when folded in, and the yolk helps the filling set.
- Pumpkin
- Provides the main flavour and bulk of the filling.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and creaminess and helps the custard set when baked.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness and depth of flavour with a hint of bitterness.
The step that matters
Folding in the egg white. Folding gently keeps the beaten egg white's air bubbles intact, so the filling stays light rather than deflating. Stirring vigorously would knock out the air and make the texture denser.
Swap the pumpkin
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, milk, cinnamon, ginger, molasses):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits about as well
- Pumpkinthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, milk, cinnamon, ginger, molasses. 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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