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Winter Squash, Baked
Winter squashes are cut in pieces and baked in the shell after the seeds have been removed. The soft part is then scraped out, mashed, seasoned as directed below and served hot.
A method note rather than a full recipe: the book assumes you already know how long a squash takes and sends you to the neighbouring entry for seasoning. Two details are worth filling in.
- No oven temperature is givenModerate heat, 350-375F, suits winter squash; hotter than that scorches the cut edges before the flesh softens. Reckon on 45 minutes to an hour for a Hubbard or butternut cut into large pieces, until a knife meets no resistance.
- Cut side downSet the pieces flesh-down on a lightly oiled sheet. They steam in their own moisture and the flesh stays sweet rather than drying to a crust, which matters when the whole point is to scrape and mash it.
- "Seasoned as directed below"The reference is to the companion entries in this section of the book. Butter, salt and pepper beaten into the hot mash, sometimes with a little cream, is a common treatment of the period; brown sugar, maple or a grating of nutmeg also appear.
- Which squash"Winter squash" in a book of this date usually means Hubbard, the big warty blue-green kind, or a turban or crookneck. Butternut, kabocha and acorn all behave the same way and are easier to find.
- Cutting it safelyA whole Hubbard resists a knife. Pierce the skin in several places and give it ten minutes in the oven, or hit it once with the back of a heavy cleaver, before attempting to section it.
- Drain if waterySome squashes throw a good deal of liquid. If the mash is loose, dry it for a minute or two over direct heat in a saucepan before adding butter, or the seasoning will taste washed out.
- YieldA 3 lb squash gives roughly 3 to 4 cups of mashed flesh, enough for four to six as a side dish.
Winter squashes are American natives, grown across the continent long before European contact and adopted early by colonial kitchens, which valued them precisely because they kept for months in a cold cellar without processing. That storage life is why a squash entry sits comfortably in the vegetable chapter of a general household book like this one: it was a dependable February vegetable in an era when February vegetables were scarce. Baking in the shell, as directed here, is among the simplest treatments, and it concentrates the flesh instead of waterlogging it the way boiling does. The Butterick company, better known for dress patterns, also published domestic manuals for much the same audience that bought its patterns.