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Thanksgiving: Pumpkin Pie

Source of Recipe

From "Thanksgiving: How to Cook it Well" by Sam Sifton


Recipe Introduction

"Squash was central to those first Thanksgivings with the Wampanoag, and pumpkin pie in one form or another has been a part of Thanksgiving since at least the late eighteenth century. The grim business of the Atlantic triangle trade brought Caribbean spices and molasses into the shell, and British whipped cream for the top. Traditionally made in modern America with canned pumpkin purée (really, a mixture of fall squashes, including pumpkin) and, often, evaporated milk, pumpkin pie is an assemblage as much as it is a recipe. It rewards devotion to a 1950s ideal of mechanized food preparation, what the television personality Sandra Lee would later call cooking that is 'semi homemade.' So you can shop for a pie pumpkin (much smaller than the Halloween model, sometimes called a sugar pumpkin), cut in half, scoop out the seeds, and bake until soft, then scoop out the softened flesh to make a purée. This takes a very long time. You can add to this egg yolks, sugar, and sour cream. You might add maple syrup. Or cream cheese. But these tweaks and improvements are difficult work and will not please those for whom memory is made of a pie created from canned pumpkin and evaporated milk. So in the spirit of inclusion, let us celebrate this reminder of our twentieth-century past."

List of Ingredients

â—¦ 1 recipe all-purpose pie dough, well chilled
â—¦ 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
â—¦ 2 tablespoons light brown sugar
â—¦ 2 tablespoons molasses
â—¦ ½ teaspoon kosher salt
â—¦ 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
â—¦ ½ teaspoon ground ginger
â—¦ ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
â—¦ 2 large eggs
â—¦ 1 15-ounce can pumpkin purée
â—¦ 1 ½ cups evaporated milk (or whole milk, or light cream)


Recipe

For the crust, use a rolling pin to roll the well-chilled disc of dough out on a lightly floured surface until it is roughly 12 inches in diameter. Fit this crust into a 9-inch pie plate, trimming it to leave a ½-inch overhang. (Make sure to use a light hand with the flour you sprinkle on your work surface when you are rolling out the crust. It can toughen the dough. Well-chilled pastry dough does not need much in the way of extra flour to keep it from sticking.) Place this plate, with the dough, in the freezer and chill for roughly 15 or 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Combine the sugars, molasses, salt, and spices in a small bowl. Beat the eggs in a large mixing bowl and add the pumpkin purée and the sugar-and-spice mixture. Gradually add the evaporated milk and beat to combine.

Remove the chilled pie shell from the freezer and pour the pumpkin mixture into it. Place the pie on the center rack in the oven and cook for 15 minutes, then rotate pie and reduce heat to 350 degrees. Cook for an additional 45 to 50 minutes, or until a knife or toothpick inserted in the center of the pie comes out clean. Remove and allow to cool, about 2 hours. Serve with whipped cream, if desired. (Pie can also be refrigerated and served cold.)



All-Purpose Dough:

â—¦ 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
â—¦ 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold, cut into ½-inch cubes
â—¦ 1 tablespoon vegetable shortening, cold
â—¦ 1 pinch kosher salt
â—¦ Yolk of 1 egg, beaten
â—¦ ½ teaspoon cider vinegar
â—¦ ½ cup ice water

Using your fingertips or the pulse function of a food processor, blend together the flour, fats, and salt until the mixture resembles a coarse meal. There should be pebbles of butter throughout the mixture.

Add egg yolk and vinegar to ½ cup ice water and stir to combine. Drizzle 2 tablespoons of this mixture over the dough and gently stir or pulse to combine. Gather a golf-ball-sized bit of dough and squeeze to combine. If it does not hold together, add a little more of the liquid and stir or pulse, then check again. Repeat as necessary.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and gather together into a round ball. You want to be careful not to overwork the flour, but not too careful; the dough should hold together. Divide the ball in half with a knife or a pastry scraper, then divide each portion in half again, to create four portions. Using the heel of your hand, flatten each portion of dough once or twice to expand the pebbles of butter, then gather the dough together again in one ball.

Flatten the ball into a 5- or 6-inch disc and dust lightly with flour. Wrap the disc in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for at least 60 minutes.