A New Old Pumpkin Pie Recipe (Unlocked)

now with homemade stuffing

Originally published for paying subscribers November 7, 2021. Unlocked now with the addition of my mom’s recipe and method for homemade stuffing!

I firmly believe that a good pumpkin pie is something that every person should be able to make. It’s something I crave all year long, and as such, there is always at least one 15-ounce can of pumpkin sitting in my pantry (see the October newsletters for more insight into my obsession with pumpkin).

I have many fond memories of pumpkin pie and other Thanksgiving desserts.

For example, I remember one particular Thanksgiving that we spent with my aunt and uncle. They always invite a slew of people over — from family-members to many of their interesting friends.

At the time, I had my heart set on becoming a theatre actress. I had developed a fascination with accents and was determined to perfect as many as I could. So you can imagine how excited I was when, while I was working on my Scottish brogue, I learned that my aunt and uncle’s Scottish friend would be coming to Thanksgiving dinner.

I was more quiet than usual at the dinner. I was listening intently to this man’s accent, how he told stories, the specific vernacular he used. But I hadn’t gotten the chance to talk to him yet.

During dessert, I went inside to help my grandma bring out more pie, and as I was passing through the doorway, this Scottish man was walking inside.

“Oh, excuse me, young miss,” he said to me as he stepped aside to let me pass.

“Oh, no, you’re fine,” I responded to him, and I was completely mortified to hear the words come out of my mouth with my own poor Scottish accent.

I turned a flaming shade of red and walked quickly to the table, laughing to myself the whole time.

I ate a massive piece of pumpkin pie while I whispered the story under my breath to my mom who laughed so hard she almost choked.

My grandma and I were talking about a pumpkin pie recipe the other day that she’s had for ages. This recipe is unique for many reasons, the main one being that it produces a perfectly smooth pie without a crack on the top! As pumpkin type of custard filling, it shouldn’t have a crack on the top. And yet, every recipe I’ve ever tried besides this one has produced a pie with a split down the middle. This recipe was written by a woman named Meta Given who was born in 1891. My grandma told me that Meta Given wrote her first cookbook in 1946.

A few days after this conversation, I got a very heavy square package in the mail. I had no idea what it was until I tore open the package, at which point the musty and comforting smell of old books hit me.

It was a two volume set of cookbooks, colored a pale, retro green, that had been published in 1949. The full title of them is “Meta Given’s Modern Encyclopedia of Cooking: A modern cook book, complete in every detail, brings the latest developments in home economics into your kitchen for a simpler, better and richer life.”

And I love them so much.

Coming through for me as she always does, my grandma sent me these books in the hopes that I would enjoy them.

I do.

My grandma told me that she’d come across the cookbooks in her hunt to find out more about Meta Given. In my own research on Meta Given, I learned that she was a classic homestyle cook who grew up on a farm in Missouri. After attending college for nutrition and culinary sciences, she developed a fascination with creating dishes that were as inexpensive and accessible to make as they were delicious, nutritious, and filling. She wrote several cookbooks and many articles for newspapers throughout her life, and she was a main player in spreading the idea that people should eat foods from a variety of categories every day.

As Thanksgiving approaches, I was wanting to develop and write about a recipe that you could bring to a Thanksgiving dinner. I decided I had to try out the Meta Given pumpkin pie that my grandma has always talked about (paying subscribers can check back next week for a savory, more main-course dish for Thanksgiving).

The recipe starts off wildly — you begin by cooking the canned pumpkin on the stove. The dry ingredients are combined together and added to the hot pumpkin while it’s still in the pan.

This technique is supposed to add a caramelized flavor to the pumpkin. And while I wasn’t yet sure if the technique would deliver, it made the house smell incredible.

After tasting the pie, I can confirm that it does deliver! The flavor of this pie is excellent. You can taste the difference with the caramelized flavor, the richness from the milk, and the combination of spices. And the use of whipping cream and milk instead of a can of sweetened condensed milk creates a smooth, creamy texture and a pie without a crack on the top.

It would be perfect topped with a bit of homemade whipped cream, the recipe for which I will include below.

For the first time ever, I will be posting a completely unedited recipe here. I have done nothing to change this recipe, including the wording of the instructions, so that you can get the full experience. I will note that you should mix together the dry ingredients and eggs, cream, and milk together in separate bowls while the pumpkin is cooking. Make sure that the pumpkin has cooled a bit in the pan before you add it to the egg mixture, as there is a possibility that the eggs could start to cook before they’re fully combined. I also had to bake the pie for closer to 45 minutes, however, I do live at altitude, and I baked the pie on a snowy day, so not everyone will have this problem.

I hope you enjoy this pie as much as we did. Remember, no need to light a fall-scented candle in your home on the day that you bake this pie. Let the aroma fill your home unhindered.

Pumpkin Pie No. 2

by Meta Given (page 1156 Vol. 2)

You will need:

1 3/4 cups canned Pumpkin Pureé

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ginger

2 eggs

1 cup cream

1/2 cup milk

Unbaked, unpricked, chilled 9-inch Pie Shell

What to do:

Turn pumpkin into aluminum saucepan and stir over direct heat for 10 minutes until somewhat dry and slightly caramelized, stirring frequently. Remove from heat but keep hot. Mix thoroughly together the sugar, salt, and spices, and stir into hot pumpkin. Beat eggs, add cream and milk, and beat into pumpkin mixture until smooth. Pour immediately into unpricked pastry-lined pie pan and bake in a moderately hot oven (400 degrees F) for 25 to 30 minutes or until pastry is golden brown and only an inch circle in the center of filling remains liquid. Cool on cake rack before cutting.

Whipped Cream

For 1 cup of whipped cream: beat 1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream and 1 Tablespoon of powdered sugar in a small bowl with an electric mixer on high speed until soft peaks form (when you lift the mixer away, the whipped cream should rise out of the bowl slightly). This should take about 5 minutes.

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Unlocked Additions

Stuffing has always been one of my favorite parts of Thanksgiving. The savory richness of the flavor with the simultaneously crispy and fluffy texture of stuffing gets my mouth watering just thinking about it.

I asked my mom how she makes her stuffing this week, and she responded with her typical, “Oh, it’s so easy!”

Below is my mom’s tried and true method for perfect stuffing. Enjoy!

Crispy Fluffy Stuffing

You will need:

3/4 cup butter (can sub olive oil for half of butter to make it lighter)

2 large stalks celery (make sure to keep the leaves on!) or leeks, chopped

3 carrots, peeled and diced

1 large onion, chopped

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground sage

1/4 tsp pepper

About 15 slices Sourdough bread, cut into cubes

1 cup vegetable broth

What to do:

Melt butter (and olive oil if desired) in a large pan. Sauté onion, carrots, celery (or leeks), and spices until onions begin to brown and carrots soften. Remove from heat and transfer to baking dish. Stir in bread cubes. Add 1 cup vegetable broth (if you want more moist stuffing add 1/3 cup more, if drier add 1/3 cup less). Bake on 350 degrees F for 40 minutes to an hour or until the bread is a golden color, stirring occasionally.

What’s always on your Thanksgiving table?

That’s all for this week. Paying subscribers can tune in next week for the next installment of “Shall we go through?” my newsletter within a newsletter about classic dining and old, old recipes. I’ll tease it with one word — Kedgeree.

Thanks, as always, for reading,

Juliana

PS —

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You can find a favorite cookbook of mine, “Half-Baked Harvest: Super Simple,” there!

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