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.
1) The pumpkin purée should be thick — if using fresh pumpkin, roast and purée, then strain through cheesecloth or cook down on the stove to reduce moisture. Watery pumpkin = watery pie. 2) Evaporated milk (not regular milk) provides the concentrated dairy richness. 3) The spice balance: cinnamon dominant, ginger secondary, nutmeg and clove tertiary. Over-cloved pumpkin pie tastes like Christmas potpourri. 4) Do not overbake — the centre should jiggle. The custard sets as it cools.
The Libby's recipe on the back of the can is, like the Nestlé Toll House recipe, one of the most trusted and most reproduced recipes in American baking. It works. A properly made pie from scratch is marginally better; the convenience of the canned recipe is significant.
James Beard — American Cookery; Dorie Greenspan — Baking with Dorie