Squash Pie II
1 cup squash, steamed and strained 4 tablespoons brandy 1 cup heavy Cream Cinnamon, Nutmeg}1 teaspoon each 1 cup sugar Ginger, Salt}3/4 teaspoon each 3 eggs, slightly beaten 1/4 teaspoon mace Line a deep pie plate with puff paste. Brush over paste with white of egg slightly beaten, and sprinkle with stale bread crumbs; fill, and bake in a moderate oven. Serve warm.
A rich custard pie of the type that turned up on New England tables well before pumpkin monopolised the genre. The proportions are generous with spice and short on instruction, so a few numbers help.
- Moderate ovenRead this as roughly 350F. Starting hotter (around 425F) for the first ten minutes to set the pastry, then dropping to 350F, is a modern option, not something the recipe specifies.
- Baking time and donenessNo time is given. Expect 45 to 55 minutes at 350F in a deep plate. The filling is done when the outer two inches are set and the centre still wobbles as a unit; it finishes firming as it cools, and an overbaked custard weeps.
- The crumb barrier is the hingeThe egg-white wash and stale bread crumbs are there to seal the raw pastry against a very wet filling. Do not skip them, and use dry, fine crumbs, not fresh soft ones.
- Squash, steamed and strainedThis means a dry puree: steam or bake the flesh of a winter squash, then press it through a sieve or food mill. Canned pumpkin or squash puree works, but drain it in a cloth if it looks loose, since extra water gives a watery filling and a soggy bottom.
- Puff pastePeriod recipes using this term generally meant a genuine laminated butter paste. An ordinary all-butter pie pastry, chilled hard, is the easier substitute under a heavy custard, since true puff tends to slump.
- The spicing is heavyA teaspoon each of cinnamon and nutmeg plus three-quarters of a teaspoon of ginger against one cup of squash is assertive by modern standards. Halving them gives something closer to current taste, and the three-quarters teaspoon of salt can come down to a half.
- BrandyFour tablespoons is a lot of liquid as well as flavour; it will keep the custard slightly softer. It can be reduced or left out with no other change.
- YieldThe recipe specifies only a deep pie plate; the quantities suit roughly a 9-inch pie, six to eight servings. Served warm as directed, not chilled.