Thursday, November 20, 2014

1895 - Pumpkin Pies Done Right - Recipes and Tips

Two facts in this piece spark my interest.  First, the tip to use the pumpkin liquor to make bread. The second, that it was the fashion of 1895 to have shallow pies...like a thin tart perhaps...rather than, for example, the tall bountiful wedges the apple pie currently appears in when well done.


Wayne Thibaud knows pies!
Pumpkin Pies Done Right

"The best pumpkin is the old-fashioned Connecticut field, with its orange golden rind. There are many varieties that cook quicker than this, but none that have the honeyed sweetness which, with slow, continuous cooking, is found in this one. Do not peel it. Cut it up and scrape out the seeds and soft interior. Put it in a large porcelain-lined preserve kettle and pour a pint of boiling water on it. Cover it closely, and let stand where it will slowly steam until its juices are drawn out. Then cook it rather faster, until the juices have been absorbed and it is almost dry. It should cook about eight or nine hours.  Rub it through a coarse sieve, and leave it to drain in a finer sieve over night. 

Use the pumpkin liquor to make brown bread.   (Comment: This is an great idea!!!)

In the morning take a quart of milk to four cups of the strained and drained pumpkin. Add one large teaspoonful of salt, one large tablespoonful of ginger, one of mace, half a nutmeg grated, four eggs, and a cupful and a half of sugar, and mix well. 

Bake this custard in deep pie tins. Make some of the the pies at least in square tins, to provide the delightful corner pieces which are sure to be in demand. A custard of pumpkin should be made at least an inch thick. 

Make mince, apple, and any other pies as thin as the canons of fashionable taste demand, but do not attempt to make a pumpkin pie unless it is generous in size and ample in depth. Such pumpkin pies as these our grandmothers made before the pretentious and insipid squash usurped the place of the golden-fruited vine of the American cornfield."  —New York Tribune 1895

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