A Tale of many Pumpkins

I should start out by saying I love pumpkin pie, by which I mean the usual, basic, classic pumpkin. I prefer recipes with fresh dairy instead of evaporated milk, but will accept Libby's quite happily if someone else made it. Food magazines though are a little like graduate students with dissertations to write: they have to find something new to contribute to the field. Food writers can't very well expect to sell magazines to us every Thanksgiving with articles about how the pumpkin recipe on the back of the can is pretty good.

from Elana's Pantry

And so, every year, I indulge my holiday cooking magazine addiction, read through the Thanksgiving issues, and encounter a chorus of variations on pumpkin. Many of these sound interesting: pumpkin pie with pecans or walnuts or macademia nuts, pumpkin pie with scotch or bourbon or amaretto, pumpkin pie with cream cheese, pumpkin pie with maple syrup or lyle's syrup or caramel.

I turn down pages, bookmark blogs, and file recipes, but I never actually make any of them. When I'm in the midst of orchestrating the massive culinary endeavor that is the traditional Thanksgiving, I resist innovation. Some number of years ago, I forsook Libby's for Cooks Illustrated (Spiced Pumpkin Pie--not that dreadful pumpkin-sweet potato hybrid they've been hawking lately). There I have remained, following a regrettable incident with The Hybrid, but every year I wonder--is there something more?

Enter our household's first annual pumpkin pie tasting, held in October to avoid stressing out the cook. I baked half batches (sans crust) of three recipes I was interested in. The pie filling had to stand by itself without any fancy crusts or creams or sauces to confuse the issue. B. and I sampled each one, varying the order of tasting, and exchanged notes. Here is how it went down.

from Gourmet (sniff)

The first contestant, and the one I was most initially excited about, was the Bourbon Pumpkin Pie from the 2009 Gourmet Thanksgiving issue, which turned out to be their last one ever. I'm not much for drinking whiskey straight, but I often like it in food. The other interesting twist was the substitution of allspice for clove and/or nutmeg.

The color of the pie filling came out lighter than I expected given the magazine picture. The flavor was very...boozy. Raw boozy. I was disappointed and B. didn't like it at all. I must admit though that there was something very compelling about the flavor combination. Next time, I will mix the bourbon with the sugar and reduce it in a saucepan before adding it to the pie. That should take the raw edge off and if anything should improve the custard's consistency

Overall conclusion: if you are intrigued by the bourbon/pumpkin idea, I recommend making a bourbon whipped cream and serving that with your favorite traditional pumpkin pie instead. If you decide to play around with reducing the bourbon first, please write and tell me how it went.

The second contestant was the Santa Monica Farmer's Market Cookbook pumpkin pie. Admittedly the centerpiece of this recipe is supposed to be an actual fresh pumpkin that is roasted and scooped out in the time-honored way. In this case, the organic canned stuff from TJs was standing in. This recipe is basically a classic pumpkin pie recipe that uses a 50/50 mixture of milk and cream instead of evaporated milk or just cream. The spice combination bore a strong resemblance to the one on the back of the can.

As expected, this was a traditional pumpkin pie. When comparing the taste/texture of milk and cream in the filling vs. just cream, it was slightly cleaner but also a little more on the watery side. B. thought it was fine.

Overall conclusion: if you are looking for a traditional pumpkin pie recipe without evaporated milk, this is not a bad one to start with. It turns out I prefer the richness of an all-cream pie. However it is good to know that if the carton of cream lied about its volume (most of them cheat a bit), and you don't have enough in the carton for the full measurement, it is okay to fill in the remainder with milk. It may be that using milk brings out the fresh taste of a roasted pumpkin. It would be worth trying the experiment again with actual squash.

from Bon Appetit

Contestant number 3, Pumpkin Pie with Brown Sugar-Walnut Topping, was a last-minute addition to the tasting. This is a basic pumpkin pie recipe with the addition of a nut-sugar-cinnamon topping before baking. The crunchy cinnamon-spiced nuts brought out the smooth coolness of the filling. It did not get soggy in the refrigerator overnight and I found myself munching away on it without half thinking about what it was doing to my carb count for the day.

I am torn about whether to make it for Thanksgiving because it seems in every gathering, there is someone who does not like walnuts. Pecans would be tasty, but I liked the sharp, slightly astringent walnut-y note with the sweet custard.

Overall conclusion: The crunchy nut topping was a surprising winner, and is a great idea if you want to make a "pumpkin crisp" without making pastry. For the filling that goes under it, I think I'm going to use a variant of the old Cooks Illustrated recipe--again.