[Sca-cooks] Re: Pumpkins (was Not the place for Political )

[Laura C. Minnick]

At 01:03 AM 11/20/2004, you wrote:
>A couple of you have mentioned doing pumpkin pies from scratch.  My mom 
>did one years ago, and it turned out rather bland.  I believe she just 
>popped 'em in the oven & baked them first.  I have heard that there is a 
>specific variety of pumpkin that is appropriate for baking rather than 
>carving, and after mom's experience, have never tried the scratch thing again.
>
>Are you having good luck with 'em?  Is there a specific sort of pumpkin to 
>look for either in the grocery or in seeds for the garden?

I'm sure that there are varieties that are more like the canned pumpkin 
when cooked up, than others. Of course, the canned stuff isn't actually 
pumpkin- I read somewhere that it's a different squash- Hubbard comes to 
mind but that might not be it. They get away with calling it pumpkin 
because it's so near to it, and squash is squash, I guess. And carving 
pumpkins are bred for thinner flesh. Cooking pumpkin or stewing pumpkins 
are much more solid.

My mom made pumpkin pir from scratch one year, and it was awful. She cut it 
up and boiled it, and then mashed it. I remember them being really watery, 
bland, and the texture was wrong. I've had better success with baking it in 
a fairly slow oven, and running it through a food mill to make it smooth. I 
think part of my mom's problem was that it was waterlogged, and all the 
pumpkin-y goodness went out the back step into the berry patch with the 
water- I remember it was rather orange. Baking/roasting I think would solve 
that problem. Then once you get the texture right, it's a matter of 
spicing, I suppose. I discovered a couple of years ago that some powder 
forte goes really well in pumpkin pie- but not too much, or it'll punch you 
right in the nose!

'Lainie

___________________________________________________________________________
The penalty good men pay for not being interested in politics is to be 
governed by men worse than themselves. -- Plato