Scratch

Steve’s daughter Catherine and her boyfriend Homer are visiting from New York and now waiting out Hurricane Sandy. Homer’s mother Marjorie is the one who let us tag along on her weekly market shopping in New York in March. Homer bakes pies for Pies ‘n’ Thighs in Brooklyn when he’s not playing drums for Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings or making records at Dunham Records. So we decided to take advantage of my garden pumpkins and his crust-making skills and make two pumpkin pies.

The key to crusts is cold butter. Homer diced it and put it in the freezer for an hour before cutting it into the flour mixture. Then just enough ice water, not too much, and chill it again for two hours before rolling the crust. It was incredibly flaky and delicious (but I think I’ll stick to Pappy’s).

What I really learned about pumpkin pie is that it is a custard. The pumpkin is not the important ingredient. Most of the pumpkin pies we eat from stores are sort of pulpy and thick. The one I made earlier this season, without blending the pumpkin, was stringy and dense.

Our pumpkin gave us 5 cups of pumpkin, a little less than the 3 cups/pie called for in our recipe, but more than in the Fanny Farmer recipe, which seemed like the definitive recipe.  (Less, however, than Libby’s pie recipe; then again, they’re selling pumpkin.) Eggs and evaporated milk lightly flavored with a few teaspoons of spice and the pumpkin pulp. Baked for 75 minutes.

It’s silky and light, not like any pumpkin pie I’ve had before. The evaporated milk also makes it different than heavy cream.

Pumpkin Pie

2 pie shells
1 cup granulated sugar 1/2 cup maple syrup
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
6 eggs
5 cups cooked and pureed pumpkin
3 cups (two 12-oz cans evaporated milk

Combine sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves in medium bowl. Beat eggs lightly in large bowl. Stir sugar and spice mixture into pumpkin and add to pumpkin. Gradually stir in evaporated milk. Pour into pie shells.

Bake in a preheated 425°F. oven for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350°F. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack for 2 hours. Chill. Do not freeze.