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If I put thinly sliced raw pumpkin between two pie crusts, will the filling be cooked enough by the time the crust is golden?

Anastasia Zendaya
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TheLostInUnknown
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2 Answers2

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Not only is this possible, I have done it. One of my favorites, in fact. But the most palatable version I've made varies a little bit from apple pie - rather than just tossing cinnamon sugar with the filling all willie nillie, I slice the squash very thin, line it against the edge of the crust, and keep working to the center. Think of it as like a tarte tatine - all lined up in a row (only this is not upside down like a tarte tatine).

Also, instead of just relying on caramelization on its own, I make a raw egg custard (just 4-5 egg yolks, a volume of sugar roughly equal to the quantity of the eggs, and some cream whipped together), add my nutmeg and cinnamon and other warm spices, and pour the raw custard all over the sliced sweet potatoes. I like to garnish with some additional nutmeg. Sometimes I like to add a splash of rum to the custard. It is so delicious, especially with a gingersnap based crust.

It's also possible (and encouraged) to brulee the top when the custard is done, and line the edge with some candied pecans.

Glenn Kunzler
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    Pumpkin or sweat potato? Those are two different foodstuffs in my book. – Willeke Apr 05 '21 at 08:41
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    That's not what I would call a 'pie' though. To me it needs a crust over the top to qualify as a pie, otherwise it's a tart. [I understand that this might be one of those terminologies with large regional variation - for instance I've never understood how pizza can be called a pie either ;) – Tetsujin Apr 05 '21 at 09:46
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    @Tetsujin That's interesting - and not a distinction I've run into before. In my experience, there are other things that differentiate a tart from a pie - many pies (in the US) don't have a top crust. Some have a crumble topping, others a giant mound of meringue... others, like pecan pie or pumpkin pie have nothing at all. The pan is generally what differs for me - tart pans have much more vertical sides, are often ridged (pie sides are generally flat) and tarts have no top lip - instead, they're cut even with the top edge of the pan. – Catija Apr 05 '21 at 14:07
  • @Catija - I guessed this was likely regional. To me, a pie can have no bottom crust - just filling & a top [more likely for home-made for obvious transportation issues], but it must have a top. Without it's a tart or a flan. I did a quick Google images search - I'm based in the UK so that's what will lead the results. I composited a picture of the first row of results; searching meat pie, apple pie, apple tart & vegetable flan - https://i.stack.imgur.com/M0nZ6.jpg [In the UK, a crumble would be just that… a crumble, neither pie nor anything else.] – Tetsujin Apr 05 '21 at 14:41
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    @Tetsujin I think this is a UK/US difference. Coming from the UK I agree that pastry on top (with or without pastry on the bottom) is a pie, pastry only on the bottom is a tart or flan. And there is a similar comment here (https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2011/10/12/141278315/british-to-american-cooking-terms-can-get-lost-in-translation) But then you run into Lemon Meringue Pie and all bets are off! – Dragonel Apr 05 '21 at 17:17
  • @Tetsujin: Pizza is not pie, unless it's Chicago-style pizza (in which case it is not pizza). – Kevin Apr 05 '21 at 22:24
  • Dean Martin would appear to disagree… "When the moon hits your eye Like a big pizza pie, that's amore"... – Tetsujin Apr 06 '21 at 08:35
  • @Tetsujin Interesting! The vegetable flan looks more like a quiche. A flan in the US is the Spanish/Mexican sweet egg-custard that's free standing - like a jelly (the British kind) and topped with caramel. It has no crust at all. Also, a crumble topping in the US gets called different things depending on the bottom - with no bottom or a more cake-like base, it's a crisp or a crumble or one of other names I outline in an answer I wrote forever ago https://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/65270/... if it has a crust base, it's a pie with a crumble top. :P – Catija Apr 06 '21 at 17:43
  • @Catija - half the terms in that link I've never even heard of;) Crumble here doesn't have any base, just fruity stuff with crumbly stuff on top.. A cobbler, though, should have a suet dumpling top ;) I think basically,. these must have initially been all geographically disparate terms that have gathered new meaning over time & distance. Imagine such as the German vs English meaning of the word 'gift'… you can work out perhaps how the meaning shifted, but they really did end up being *dramatically* different things ;)) – Tetsujin Apr 06 '21 at 17:55
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Many apple pie recipes bake for over an hour. That would be plenty of time to cook pumpkin.

moscafj
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