Another "gem" from Sokolov's Canon of Vegetables. Sokolov says, "This is the canonical dessert at Thanksgiving dinners, even though pie baking would have been beyond the technical possibilities of the Pilgrims in their first harvest season. Really a custard pie, it was a dense, throaty gravity to it." I dare you to refer to someone's voice as having a "dense, throaty gravity." I double dare you if the person is of the opposite gender. First I give the pie recipe, then my interpretation thereof:
Ingredients:
3 cups flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup (8 ounces) cold but not frozen lard, shortening, or butter, sliced into thin pats
3 tsp. vinegar
6 Tbsp. cold water
1 egg, for the crust
2 cups pumpkin puree
1/2 cup heavy cream
3 eggs, lightly whisked
1/2 tsp. allspice
1/2 tsp. mace
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
Directions:
1. Combine the flour, the salt, and the lard, shortening, or butter in a large bowl. Cut the fat into the flour with a pastry blender or two dinner forks. Keep blending until the dough is well blended but not perfectly blended. The ideal is often said to look like oatmeal, little flecks of flour-covered fat.
2. In another bowl, whisk together the vinegar, water, and egg. Blend this liquid into the dough a bit at a time until the dough gathers itself into a ball. Then divide the dough into thirds and put each third in a Ziploc bag. Squeeze out the air. Then, if you are going to make three pies that same day, refrigerate all three bags of dough. If you are saving one or both bags for a future day, freeze both. In other words, freeze for the future, refrigerate for today. Let frozen dough defrost in the refrigerator for several hours. Let well-chilled unfrozen dough adjust to room temperature for 10 minutes.
3. Roll out the dough into an 11-inch circle between two sheets of wax paper. Strip away the top sheet of paper. Then pick up the dough with the bottom sheet of paper. Flip it over onto a 9-inch pie pan. Press into the pie pan. Press the edge of the crust with the tines of a fork to make a pattern of parallel lines and to crimp the crust against the pan. Trim away the excess, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate.
4. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
5. Mix together the pumpkin puree and all the remaining ingredients to make the custard filling. Remove the crust from the refrigerator, unwrap, and fill.
6. Set in the oven on a baking sheet. Bake for 45 minutes, or until the crust has browned. The filling will seem set to the touch but it will not be completely done until it cools.
Serves 6 to 8.
I used the following ingredients: sweet cream salted butter (cold), white wine vinegar, and light brown sugar. I think dark brown sugar would have made a richer pie-- but I didn't have any, alas. The butter and vinegar combination seemed to work well.
Following the instructions, the pie crust was much too dry and wouldn't absorb the entire flour mixture. I added two additional tablespoons cold water, which then made it too wet. After I refrigerated it for 20-30 minutes, the consistency was great for rolling out, just a tad too sticky but not bad. I used 1/3 of the dough and froze the additional.
I baked the pie 45 minutes at 375 when the power gave out. The crust was browned, but the pie filling was still wet. Even though it cooled, the pie filling was much too soupy for my liking and the bottom crust was not baked adequately. Either it needs to bake longer, or the pie crust needs to be baked for a bit prior to adding the filling, which then needs to bake longer, possibly at a lower temperature to avoid burning the crust.
I served this pie with unsweetened whipped heavy cream (the left-overs in the carton from the 1/2 cup in the recipe), which I though was the perfect complement for the pie.
Overall I think this pie recipe was ok-- the crust was a bit too crumbly for my liking but I could see myself using this crust again. The baking temperatures/times need to be worked out, and dark brown sugar would improve the flavor just a little.
Ingredients:
3 cups flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup (8 ounces) cold but not frozen lard, shortening, or butter, sliced into thin pats
3 tsp. vinegar
6 Tbsp. cold water
1 egg, for the crust
2 cups pumpkin puree
1/2 cup heavy cream
3 eggs, lightly whisked
1/2 tsp. allspice
1/2 tsp. mace
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
Directions:
1. Combine the flour, the salt, and the lard, shortening, or butter in a large bowl. Cut the fat into the flour with a pastry blender or two dinner forks. Keep blending until the dough is well blended but not perfectly blended. The ideal is often said to look like oatmeal, little flecks of flour-covered fat.
2. In another bowl, whisk together the vinegar, water, and egg. Blend this liquid into the dough a bit at a time until the dough gathers itself into a ball. Then divide the dough into thirds and put each third in a Ziploc bag. Squeeze out the air. Then, if you are going to make three pies that same day, refrigerate all three bags of dough. If you are saving one or both bags for a future day, freeze both. In other words, freeze for the future, refrigerate for today. Let frozen dough defrost in the refrigerator for several hours. Let well-chilled unfrozen dough adjust to room temperature for 10 minutes.
3. Roll out the dough into an 11-inch circle between two sheets of wax paper. Strip away the top sheet of paper. Then pick up the dough with the bottom sheet of paper. Flip it over onto a 9-inch pie pan. Press into the pie pan. Press the edge of the crust with the tines of a fork to make a pattern of parallel lines and to crimp the crust against the pan. Trim away the excess, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate.
4. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
5. Mix together the pumpkin puree and all the remaining ingredients to make the custard filling. Remove the crust from the refrigerator, unwrap, and fill.
6. Set in the oven on a baking sheet. Bake for 45 minutes, or until the crust has browned. The filling will seem set to the touch but it will not be completely done until it cools.
Serves 6 to 8.
I used the following ingredients: sweet cream salted butter (cold), white wine vinegar, and light brown sugar. I think dark brown sugar would have made a richer pie-- but I didn't have any, alas. The butter and vinegar combination seemed to work well.
Following the instructions, the pie crust was much too dry and wouldn't absorb the entire flour mixture. I added two additional tablespoons cold water, which then made it too wet. After I refrigerated it for 20-30 minutes, the consistency was great for rolling out, just a tad too sticky but not bad. I used 1/3 of the dough and froze the additional.
I baked the pie 45 minutes at 375 when the power gave out. The crust was browned, but the pie filling was still wet. Even though it cooled, the pie filling was much too soupy for my liking and the bottom crust was not baked adequately. Either it needs to bake longer, or the pie crust needs to be baked for a bit prior to adding the filling, which then needs to bake longer, possibly at a lower temperature to avoid burning the crust.
I served this pie with unsweetened whipped heavy cream (the left-overs in the carton from the 1/2 cup in the recipe), which I though was the perfect complement for the pie.
Overall I think this pie recipe was ok-- the crust was a bit too crumbly for my liking but I could see myself using this crust again. The baking temperatures/times need to be worked out, and dark brown sugar would improve the flavor just a little.
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