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Dessert

Thanksgiving Squash Pie

A baked pie made with stewed Hubbard squash, eggs, spices, sugar, milk, and topped with whipped cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 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 ↓

Thanksgiving Squash 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

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

Make and bake the pie

  1. Combine all ingredients except the whipping cream in a bowl.

  2. Pour the mixture into a large pie pan lined with pastry.

  3. Bake until set and firm.

Finish

  1. Whip the cream and spread it over the top when the pie is cold.

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. Clove + cinnamontop 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 into a firm, sliceable structure as they cook.
Squash
Provides the main body, moisture and flavor of the filling.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the filling brown slightly as it bakes.
Rich milk
Adds moisture and richness, giving the custard a softer texture.
Whipping cream
Adds fat and richness to the cold topping, giving a light, creamy finish.

The step that matters

Bake until set and firm. Egg proteins coagulate as the custard heats, turning the liquid filling solid. Underbaking leaves the centre runny and unable to hold a slice, while overbaking can make it grainy, cracked or weepy.

Swap the ginger

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, nutmeg, clove, sugar, milk, cream, cinnamon. 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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