Cook it Fresh

pies ready for testing, clockwise from top, left: fresh pumpkin pie, pre-mixed filling pie, canned pumpkin pie

I am excited to be hosting Thanksgiving dinner at my house this year for my husband’s family.  Although I have contributed many dishes to Thanksgiving potlucks over the years, I have never actually had the big meal at my home and, in preparation for this event, I am going to be testing out several traditional Thanksgiving side dishes and desserts over the next few weeks.  I’m starting off with the classic dessert, and one of my favorites:  Pumpkin Pie.   Note that I am only testing the pumpkin pie FILLING in this post so I am not accounting for the crust in taste, cost, or time comparisons.  I made my own crusts, but use whatever crust you like best.  I first decided to compare 2 kinds of pumpkin pie:  pie made with canned pumpkin and pie made with fresh pumpkin.  This soon ballooned into 4 different types of pumpkin pie with the inclusion of prepared pumpkin pie filling from a can, and a completely pre-made, store bought version.  With four pies to taste I had to call in reinforcements and a pie tasting extravaganza ensued.

Pie testing plate, from left: canned pumpkin pie, fresh pumpkin pie, pre-mixed filling pie, store bought pie

Here’s what we found:

I first made my favorite recipe for pumpkin pie that I have made many times before , the one found on the back of a can of Libby’s canned pumpkin.  I made one slight change and used light brown sugar instead of the white sugar called for in the recipe:

sugar and spices (and everything nice) ready to go into a pumpkin pie

Libby’s Famous Pumpkin Pie

Makes one 9 inch pie (8 servings)

3/4 cup light brown sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground ginger

1/4 tsp. ground cloves

2 large eggs

1 can (15 oz.) Libby’s 100% pure pumpkin

1 can (12 oz.) Carnation Evaporated Milk

1 unbaked 9-inch pie shell

1.  Mix sugar, salt, cinnamon, sugar, ginger, and cloves in a small bowl.  Beat eggs in a large bowl.  Stir in pumpkin and sugar-spice mixture.  Gradually stir in evaporated milk.

2.  Pour into pie shell.

3.  Bake in a preheated 425 degree oven for 15 minutes.  Reduce temperature to 350 degrees, bake 40-50 minutes or until a knife inserted near center comes out clean.  Cool on wire rack for 2 hours or refrigerate.

I continued my pumpkin pie marathon with a pie made from the same recipe above but using 1 1/2 cups fresh pumpkin puree (about half of a small roasted pumpkin) in place of the canned, and the addition of 1 Tablespoon of cornstarch to the sugar mixture to help the filling set.   As my Mom happened to already have 2 small sugar pumpkins at hand,  she graciously offered to clean, roast, and puree the pumpkin for me.  She first cut a small pumpkin in half, cleaned out the seeds, and laid it, cut side down, on a parchment lined baking sheet.  Then she roasted it for about an hour in a 350 degree oven, or until it was easily pierced with a paring knife (time may vary according the size and hardness of the pumpkin).   Once the pumpkin was soft enough, she scooped out the pulp, pureed it in a food processor and let it drain in a sieve set over a bowl for a couple of hours.   It’s important to let the puree drain, otherwise it will have too much liquid and the filling won’t set correctly while baking.  According to Mom, it was a pretty labor and time intensive task.  The roasting alone took an hour and that was on top of cutting, de-seeding, scooping, and pureeing.    This whole process easily adds a couple of hours to the time it takes to make a pumpkin pie.

Roasted sugar pumpkins

The third pie I decided to try out was made with pre-mixed pumpkin pie filling.  I had never used pumpkin pie filling before and did not realize that you still have to mix in eggs and evaporated milk before pouring the filling into the pie shell.  Not having to measure out and mix spices only saved me about 5 minutes and the pie had to bake a little longer and cost a bit more.   At the last minute, one of the taste testers offered to pick up a store bought pumpkin pie from King Soopers, bringing our pie total to 4.  So how did the pies measure up in a blind taste test?

The pies made with canned pumpkin and fresh pumpkin tied for first place with the pre-mixed filling coming in second and the store bought pie getting no votes at all.  A few  of the testers commented that the pies made with canned and fresh pumpkin were very similar in flavor.  One person said they were, “Close in color and consistency.  Both have very good flavor.”, and I agree.   The fresh pumpkin had a bit of a milder flavor and firmer texture, but they were very close.  The pie made from pre-mixed pumpkin pie filling, on the other hand, had a much different flavor.  It tasted more of spices than pumpkin, though some people commented that it had the creamiest texture and a nice, bright pumpkin color.  The store bought pie fared the worst, by far, with people commenting that it tasted, “salty” had a “gummy texture” and seemed “over-processed”.

Bottom Line: Considering that the pies made with canned  and fresh pumpkin both scored high and tasted similar,  and that using fresh pumpkin adds a significant amount of work and time, using canned pumpkin seems like the best bet.  Although some people may prefer the appearance and texture of pre-mixed canned pie filling, it didn’t score well on flavor and barely saved any time, so I would avoid it.  The store bought pie cost the most and tasted the worst, making it a bad choice, unless  you are in a huge hurry, or are invited to a pumpkin pie tasting party at the last minute.

Canned Pumpkin Pie

Cost:  $3.46

Time:  1 hour 15 minutes

Fresh Pumpkin Pie

Cost:  $2.63

Time:  2 hours 30 minutes

Prepared Filling Pie

Cost:  $3.03

Time:  1 hour 20 minutes

Store Bought Pie

Cost:  $3.99

Time:  none

On Thursday we’ll be testing Pad Thai:  Takeout or homemade?