We’ve all heard the phrase “As American as Apple Pie.” It is true that America really did embrace apple pie and make it her own, but, it’s not really American in origin at all. Kind of a bummer, I know, to think that America’s favorite pie isn’t exactly American, but it’s true. Not even apples are American. Why else would the Johnny Appleseed legend exist? The English brought their apple pie recipes with them to the new world. So did the Dutch as in “Dutch Apple Pie.” Still, don’t despair, because America has at least one pie (actually we have more than one) that really is American. Pumpkin pie is much more American than Apple Pie.
Americans Invented the Pumpkin Pie as We Know It
Who doesn’t look forward to pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving? Some of us even repeat the pleasure at Christmas. While it’s true that no pumpkins, nor pumpkin pie, was served at the “first Thanksgiving”, the first sweet pumpkin pies were served in New England as early as the late 1700s and were common by the 1800s.
Pumpkin had been used in English pies as an ingredient, but these were nothing like our pumpkin pie. Look to American Cookery by Amelia Simmons for an idea of a typical pumpkin pie recipe from those days. Her “pompkin puddings” were actually what we would call a pie, and baked in crusts. However, they did call for copious amounts of egg and milk, creating something more like a milk-based custard with stewed pumpkin cooked into it.
The more distinctly American version of this “pie” strains and purees the pumpkin and uses this puree to create the custard. There had been “pumpkin pie” recipes before this, but they bore no resemblance to what we call pumpkin pie.
For example, there is a book by Mrs. Silvester Gardiner, with a pumpkin pie recipe made with layered apple and raw pumpkin, “well-sugared” and placed under a crust. This was pretty much a deep-dish apple pie with pumpkin chunks added, and nothing dissimilar to what you may have found in Europe. But pumpkin made into a custard and baked in a crust — that is American.
By 1850, pumpkin pie recipes were appearing in cookbooks that were not only custards like our modern pie but these recipes were often labeled “American” to differentiate them from traditional English style pies. Mrs. Hale’s New Cookbook (1857) lists this entry for American Pumpkin Pie:
Take out the seeds, and pare the pumpkin or squash; but in taking out the seeds do not scrape the inside of the pumpkin; the part nearest the seed is the sweetest; then stew teh pumpkin, and strain it through a seieve or cullender. To a quart of milk, for a family pie, 3 eggs are sufficient. Stir in the stewed pumpkin with you milk and beaten-up eggs, till it is as thick as you can stir round and round easily. If the pie is wanted richer make it thinner and add sweet cream or another egg or two; but even 1 egg to a cup of milk makes “very decent pies.” Sweeten with molasses or sugar; add 2 teaspoons fullof salt, 2 tablespoons full of sifted cinnamon, and 1 of powdered ginger; but allspice may be used, or any other spice that may be preferred. The peel of a lemon grated in gives it a pleasant flavor. The more eggs, says an American authority, the better the pie. Some put 1 egg to a gill of milk. Bake about an hour in deep plates, or shallow dishes, without an upper crust, in a hot oven. 1
Directly underneath this entry appeared a recipe for “Pumpkin Pie (English) was nothing more than uncooked grated pumpkin with sugar and spices baked in a bottom crust. As for the eggs, recipes from the 1800s sometimes called for up to a dozen eggs in one American-style pumpkin pie.
- Hale, Sarah Josepha Buell. Mrs. Hale’s New Cook Book: A Practical System for Private Families in Town and Country; with Directions for Carving, and Arranging the Table for Parties, Etc. Also, Preparations of Food for Invalids and for Children. By Mrs. Sara J. Hale …. United States, T. B. Peterson, 1857.