MARTHA WASHINGTON’S “POMPKIN PIE”

In her hand printed cookbook, Martha Washington also had a recipe for “Pompkin Pie.”

1. “Pare and cut into pieces a good pompkin.

2. Put it into a granite or porcelain kettle with not more than a teacup of water; cover the kettle and steam the pompkin until tender.

3. While it is hot, add a tablespoon of butter to each quart. Press the whole through a colander, rejecting every particle of water.

4. Also sprinkle over, while the pompkin is hot, after it goes through the colander, a tablespoon of flour to each quart. Now take a quart of this strained pompkin, add to it six well-beaten eggs, a cup of sugar, a quarter of a teaspoonful of mace, a tablespoonful of ginger, a quarter of a nutmeg, and one gill of brandy. Have the dishes lined with good, rich paste, pour in the mixture, put strips of twisted paste across and bake three-quarters of an hour in a quick oven.”

Reference: Kansatieteellinen Arkisto 26, Suomen Muinais-muistoyhdistys, 1975, 22-23. From a paper by Margaret Louise Arnott titled “Thanksgiving Dinner: A Study in Cultural Heritage.”