New England Pumpkin Pie

This recipe dates to an 1886 cookbook put out by "The Ladies of the Second Congregational Church of Biddeford, Maine." While it does list measures (one pint of pumpkin, two quarts of rich milk...) it does not identify baking time or heat or even number of pies. It does tell the cook to peel and cut your pumpkin...cook six to eight hours, then push the pumpkin through a colander. 

I like to follow a recipe to the letter, the first time I try it. But with a nod to the hard working ladies of the Second Congregational Church of Biddeford, Maine, this 21st century woman with a busy day planned drove to the local grocer and purchased a can of "One-Pie" pureed pumpkin. BTW, "One-Pie" is still distributed out of West Paris, Maine, and the cannery originated just down the road a piece, under the name "Medomak Canning Co" in Waldoboro, Maine. One-Pie has generations of loyal customers who rely upon its canned squash and pumpkin for their pie baking.

I used a Betty Crocker recipe, and will note that neither Betty Crocker nor the Biddeford church ladies count nutmeg among the spices in their pumpkin pie. This was somewhat alarming to me, since I've always put nutmeg in my pumpkin pie. But I thought, who am I to go against the culinary wisdom of pie bakers from my great-grandmother's generation, as well as my mother's generation? So, no nutmeg in this pie. And results of the taste test? Pretty much perfect, if I do say so myself. And baking my pie at 425 degrees for 15 minutes, then lowering to 350 for 45 minutes, plus the prep time of laying the pie crust into the pie dish, and whisking together the eggs, sugar, One-Pie pureed pumpkin, evaporated milk, and spices took considerably less time than the Biddeford church ladies. Electricity, the invention of the electric stove, and the availability of canned products are blessings in our lives that we take for granted until we look back at what was required of cooks only a little over a century ago.