Baked Squash
Cut Hubbard squash in pieces for serving. Remove seeds and stringy portion. Put one-half teaspoon molasses in each portion and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake in a hot oven until tender. Put a piece of butter on each portion and serve in the shell.
A four-line recipe that works exactly as written; the only things missing are a temperature, a time, and a warning about how hard raw Hubbard squash is to cut.
- "Hot oven"In a book of this era that means roughly 400–425F. Squash roasts well at 400F; much hotter and the cut faces scorch before the flesh softens.
- TimingExpect 45 minutes to an hour for pieces two to three inches across, depending on thickness. Test with a knife tip at the thickest point rather than by the clock.
- Breaking down a HubbardThese are large, thick-skinned winter squash, often 10 lb or more. Halve them by driving a heavy knife in with a mallet, or, by kitchen tradition, drop the whole squash onto a hard floor. Butternut or kabocha substitutes if a Hubbard is not to be had.
- MolassesA mild table molasses is what you want; blackstrap is markedly more bitter and will dominate the squash. Half a teaspoon per portion is restrained -- this is seasoning, not a glaze.
- Cover, then uncoverThe recipe bakes the pieces uncovered. Covering the pan for the first two-thirds and finishing uncovered will keep the flesh from drying if your oven runs dry, though it is a departure from the text.
- Serving in the shellHubbard skin is too tough to eat; diners scoop the flesh out with a spoon. Allow one generous piece per person, and add the butter only after baking, as the recipe directs.
The Hubbard squash was well established in New England kitchens by the late nineteenth century, having been introduced to the seed trade by James J. H. Gregory of Marblehead, Massachusetts, who named it for a neighbor, Elizabeth Hubbard — a story Gregory himself told in his catalogues. Its hard shell made it a keeper: harvested in autumn, it would sit in a cellar into late winter. The molasses is a New England habit as much as a flavoring; before the wide availability of cheap refined sugar, molasses was a common everyday sweetener in that region, and it appears in baked beans, brown bread, gingerbread and, as here, a plain baked vegetable given a little lift.