Pumpkin Pie

Pumpkin pie — a single-crust pie with a spiced custard filling of puréed pumpkin (or butternut squash — the dirty secret of commercial pumpkin pie filling), eggs, cream, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and clove — is the one food that appears on virtually every Thanksgiving table in America, regardless of region, ethnicity, or class. The dish connects to the Pilgrim mythology (pumpkin was abundant in colonial New England) and to the indigenous squash cultivation that predates colonisation by millennia. Canned pumpkin (Libby's controls 85% of the market, and Libby's "pumpkin" is actually a specific variety of butternut squash called Dickinson) is the standard filling base.

A single-crust pie filled with a smooth, spiced custard: canned pumpkin purée (or fresh-roasted and puréed sugar pumpkin), eggs, evaporated milk or cream, sugar, and the "pumpkin spice" blend (cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, clove). Baked at 220°C for 15 minutes (to set the crust), then reduced to 175°C for 40-50 minutes until the filling is set at the edges and the centre jiggles slightly. Served with whipped cream.

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