By Christina Morin
With the US celebrating Thanksgiving this Thursday, I thought I might take the opportunity to extol my favourite Thanksgiving Day food: pumpkin pie. As far as I’m concerned, Thanksgiving isn’t complete without a sliver – however small (or large!) – of pumpkin pie, eaten plain or topped with a dollop of whipped cream. There are, of course, a multitude of variations for pumpkin pie, but the one I’ve always known and loved is the recipe on the back of the Libby’s tin (yes, you can buy pumpkin – already cooked and mashed – in a tin. Such a time saver!). The resulting pie is gorgeously custardy, sophisticatedly spicy and, yes, decidedly orange. I’ve made it a few times for friends and family here in Ireland and have been extremely disappointed at the negative reception it has received. If you didn’t grow up with it, it seems, you don’t understand it… pumpkin? In a pie? for dessert? Impossible!
Be that as it may, I plan to eat some pumpkin pie this Thursday in celebration, fully acknowledging that it, like most of the dishes gracing the average, twenty-first century Thanksgiving Day table, is a far cry from what the Pilgrims ate at that first Thanksgiving dinner in 1621. The ‘traditional’ Thanksgiving meal I grew up with involved a huge turkey, roasted and filled with bread stuffing, and served with gravy, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, sweet potato casserole, and maybe a few green beans for colour. Dessert was pumpkin and/or apple pie with whipped cream, though my nana also sometimes requested a New England speciality: Indian pudding – a maize based custard pudding with raisins. As if that doesn’t sound overwhelming-ly calorific to start with, it seems that the original Thanksgiving lasted three days, not just one afternoon, and we’re not talking leftover turkey and stuffing sandwiches here. Having just survived a horrible year in their new settlement, the Pilgrims, much reduced in number, were celebrating a successful, if meager, harvest, and did so over the course of several days. Chances are though, they didn’t have any bread stuffing or potatoes, and the cranberries would have been unsweetened, as there was no sugar to be had. There was undoubtedly a lot of meat, including turkeys, to feast on, as well as fish, but, it seems, pies were pretty much out of the question, and not just because of the lack of sugar. With no ovens, and only open fires, to cook on, pastry wasn’t all that feasible. Pumpkin, while undeniably part of the first Thanksgiving, probably came stewed. (None for me, thanks!) See here and here for some of the history.
Apparently, pumpkin pie as we now know it, was an invention of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century cooks. There are some weird and wonderful recipes out there: this one sounds similar to the one I’m used to, but doesn’t have any cinnamon or nutmeg; this one has a full cup of molasses (treacle) in it; and this one makes enough filling for five pies! Lest you think the taste for pumpkin pie is a twentieth- or twenty-first century development, these recipes are all from 1894. And Wikipedia led me to an intriguing (borderline parodic) encomium to the humble pumpkin pie by John Greenleaf Whittier. Published in 1850, ‘The Pumpkin’ praises its titular fruit in the following terms:
Oh, fruit loved of boyhood! The old days recalling,
When wood-grapes were purpling and brown nuts were falling!
When wild, ugly faces we carved in its skin,
Glaring out through the dark with a candle within!
When we laughed round the corn-heap, with hearts all in tune,
Our chair a broad pumpkin, – our lantern the moon,
Telling tales of the fairy who travelled like steam
In a pumpkin-shell coach, with two rats for her team!
Moreover, the poem queries, ‘What moistens the lip and brightens the ye? / What calls back the past, like the rich Pumpkin pie?’ Whittier obviously loved pumpkin pie as much as I do!
Tags: Plymouth Plantation, Thanksgiving
Pue's Occurrences 
21 November 2011 at 14:13 |
As an American and lover of pumpkin pie, I agree with you whole-heartedly (and full-stomachedly). It is my favorite dish of the holidays, but I suppose if you didn’t grow up eating it, it might not be your thing. Kind of like the mashed carrots I got in Wales, thinking I was spooning yams onto my plate . . .
If you like a more custard-like pumpkin pie, as my mother did, try adding a couple of eggs to the Libby’s recipe.
21 November 2011 at 21:28 |
[…] week is Thanksgiving for my US readers so here is “A History of the Humble Pumpkin Pie” from Christina Morin at Pue’s Occurrences The Irish History […]
21 November 2011 at 23:04 |
Pumpkin and pumpkin pie are definitely things a lot of Irish people don’t understand. More importantly, where did you get pumpkin here in Ireland to make pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving?! Or are you using an actual pumpkin (which requires a lot more work)? I miss Libby’s canned pumpkin. It also seems impossible to get fresh cranberries here.
Thanks for the history and interesting old recipes!
22 November 2011 at 08:39 |
Sara – It used to be incredibly difficult to find tinned pumpkin at all, let alone Libby’s, in Ireland… so difficult, in fact, that I often used to pop a can or two into my bag when coming home from visits to the States! (sad but true) It seems to be much easier now, and a lot of the specialty grocery stores carry it now (at a significant mark up, but it’s worth it!) You can also order it on Amazon, apparently. If you’re in Dublin, I’d try Fallon and Byrne, Listons, or Donnybrook Fair. There’s also a new-ish sweet shop in Temple Bar that also seems to stock a wide range of American products (Lucky Charms, Pop Tarts, etc.)
As for cranberries, I’ve been seeing them quite frequently around this time of year in Dunnes and Tescos, but also check out the stores above and perhaps the Temple Bar Market on a Saturday.
Good luck (and Happy Thanksgiving)!
Tina
22 November 2011 at 18:50 |
Oh the joys of being an American in Ireland 😉 Thanks for the tips. I’m in Cork, not Dublin, but I’ll check out those spots the next time I’m up there. In the meantime I might have to settle for homemade apple pie on Thursday. And yes, at least one small can of pumpkin will be coming back in my bag after Christmas holidays!
Happy Thanksgiving!
23 November 2011 at 10:32 |
Sara, in Cork, I’d try the Quay Co-op. They might not have Libby’s, but I’m willing to bet they’d have some form of canned pumpkin (probably organic as well!)
Tina