Pumpkin Pie

One of the things I missed the most about Thanksgiving was pumpkin pie. Along with everything else, of course, since they don't celebrate here. I just worked like normal. But, I REALLY missed pumkin pie. It may possibly be my favorite food on earth. So, in the weeks that followed Thanksgiving, that absence remained and just kind of festered. I had been denied my rightful portion of pumkin pie. And on pumkin pie day, no less. So, sometime in December I had decided to make a pumpkin pie, better late than never. Turns out that is more difficult in Germany than in the U.S.... First of all, there is no canned pumpkin. Doesn't exist. And Germans don't even know what pumkin pie is. As an aside, my experience with Germans in the U.S. is that they don't even like it. It's somehow not to their taste. I had also noticed over time that Germans seem to dislike root beer. So, I'm deducing that this may be due to a general aversion to ginger, as a spice. It's just not what their used to. Except for in gingerbread, which is common here around Christmast time. (As a double aside, the root beer part might also be due to the name, which has the word "beer" in it, but definitely does not hold the properties of a typical beer. If I were expecting a beer and I ended up with that instead, I would probably be disappointed too).

Ok, back to the post. So, I needed to make this pie, but there was no pumpkin pie filling to be had. Of course the only solution was to find a real pumpkin and start from scratch. So began the adventure. Another added piece of motivation was that I was invited to an early holiday-type party, and I wanted to bring something to contribute. After a bit of searching, I was able to find pumpkins of the right sort for pie-making (some are not, I've found out) at an outdoor fruit and vegetable stand. Here is the whole pumpkin and then the pumpkin sliced in half to begin processing (I actually bought two, just in case).

I cut it ultimately into quarters and scooped out all of the seeds and stringy stuff from the center. Then, the cleaned quarters went directly (with the skin still on) into a pot with a couple of inches of water to simmer for an hour or so.

I could then use the simmering time to go ahead and make the crust and the pumkin pie filling, minus the pumkin. Actually, they both were a little more difficult to make than normal because of a few mitigating factors. First of all, it was difficult to find all of the ingredients, and in the forms I expected them. I couldn't for the life of me find shortening anywhere, so I just used butter in the crust instead, which was a little different. Interestingly, I figured out what they call shortening here and I used it for a second pumpkin pie later, but the crust behaved even stranger. There must be some subtle difference. Or possibly I'm not a very good baker, you be the judge. In addition, my kitchen is not very well-equipped. For instance I had no measuring spoons. Germans generally don't measure anything by volume. Not even liquids. Instead, they use a balance and the ingredients are measured by mass. Of course that is not how my recipe was, so I found myself trying to figure out how many grams of flour are in a cup and other such conversions. I ended up adding the spices to taste anyway. It turned out also that I had no big mixing spoon. So, I resorted to mixing with my hands. I think this picture makes me look like a sloth or some other strange creature with an unconventional foot-hand. But, whatever, I was in the mixing zone.

Now it was time to get back to that simmering pumpkin. Once it cooks, it softens up a lot, kind of like with potatoes. And then it separates very easily from the peel so you can take only the good part to go into the pie.

Then, in it goes.

And this is the end result after baking.

I put it in the refrigerator after cooling and then brought it directly to the holiday party the next day. But, by then, I was starting to get a little nervous, thinking what if this pie hadn't turned out so well after all. Hmmm. So, I set it down when I got in and then quickly cut myself a piece. Of course it had to be tested, to make sure I wouldn't be subjecting unsuspecting party-goers to a pie that tasted like potting soil, for instance.

Turned out that it tasted pretty good. Definitely a passable pumpkin pie. And it's a good thing that I got my piece right away, because news of the pie spread fast, seemingly through an elaborate set of hand signals. Definitely among the Americans and Canadians in attendance. I saw one American signal from across the room that he was to be saved two pieces, as he made his way across the crowded apartment. Then, quite soon the pie was gone. Here is the empty pie pan, with what appears to be a half-eaten piece of bread in there. It must have been discarded by someone in their haste to get a piece of the pie.

So, turned out well. I saved the second pumpkin until after Christmas and used it to make a second pie, of which I was able to eat several pieces myself and then introduce the dessert to a German colleague and his wife. Perhaps if enough Germans get to taste it, canned pumpkin will start appearing on the supermarket shelves here as well.