PUMPKIN APPEAL

Last week I saw Martha Stewart making pumpkin souffls on television. They make a good alternative, she said, to pumpkin pie. They looked great, but I couldn't help wonder who in their right mind wants an alternative to pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving Day! Pumpkin pie, after all, is as American as the holiday itself.

Once colonists settled this country, out of necessity pumpkin became an important part of their diet. It was served at the first Thanksgiving feast in 1621.

The first pumpkin pies were self-contained affairs. The top would be sliced off a pumpkin, the seeds scooped out, and the cavity filled with milk, spices, and molasses or maple sugar. Then the top was replaced and the whole thing was baked until the milk was absorbed.

So today it just wouldn't be Thanksgiving without pumpkin pie. But, of course, not all pumpkin pies are created equal. And on our most significant holiday, from a culinary perspective anyway, who wants to serve less than the very best version imaginable? I spent the last week in search of the perfect pumpkin pie. This mission, which I undertook with typical selflessness, required me to personally try about a dozen pumpkin pie recipes culled from the hundreds in my files. Yes, it was arduous and exhausting work, but I figure somebody had to do it. After conscientious investigation, sometimes requiring me to consume not one but several slices of a given pie and mounds of whipped cream, I herewith offer what I believe to be the top recipes.

First, some background as to my methodology. Any recipe with the word "chiffon" appearing in the title was immediately rejected. There is a place for light foods like chiffon pie, but surely it is not at the Thanksgiving table. Furthermore, any recipes relying on instant pudding, Cool Whip, or related convenience foods were likewise rejected. Such products make good pies, but in my judgment they are not the real thing. That's why at our house Cool Whip, along with margarine, has long been banned from the holiday table.

There is one convenience food which I did use, however, and that is canned pumpkin, despite the controversy surrounding it. Some purists claim you should cut up a pumpkin and make your own pumpkin puree. In fact, after Gourmet Magazine published an encomium to the canned product last year, an outraged reader from New Hampshire, who claims to spend entire afternoons processing her own pumpkins, wrote in to chastise the publication. "I would have expected such an article in a magazine aimed at saving working women time and guilt," she complained, "not in a gourmet magazine."

But if you take her approach, you should know that the pumpkin you find at the local supermarket, while fine for jack-o'-lanterns, is not well suited for cooking. It will produce a watery, stringy, and not particularly flavorful product. If you insist on cooking your own puree from scratch, you'll need to find a sugar pumpkin.

In truth, what is sold in cans as pumpkin typically comes from something hardly recognizable in color or shape as a pumpkin. Libby's, for example, fills its cans with a hybridized version of the Dickinson pumpkin selectively bred for texture, color, and flavor and trademarked as the Libby's Select.

If you balk at using canned pumpkin, you might try winter squash instead. As part of my investigations I substituted winter squash for pumpkin in my standard recipe, though even there I used frozen puree instead of making my own. The result was wonderful. Some people might even prefer the delicate taste. But I still favor canned pumpkin. After all, introduced in 1929 by Libby's, it's what most of us grew up on. And no less an authority than Rose Levy Beranbaum, author of the Pie and Pastry Bible, maintains, "Canned pumpkin puree is more consistent in flavor and texture than homemade."

Before presenting the recipes, here are some general tips drawn from my experiments. First, to avoid the perennial problem of soggy crusts, heat both the filling and the crust before assembling and bake on the lowest rack or even the floor of the oven. It also helps, as recommended by Beranbaum, to press a layer of gingersnap crumbs onto the bottom of the crust before baking.

Second, don't overpower the pumpkin flavor with additional ingredients. (Some recipes specify light brown instead of dark brown sugar for this very reason.) I found the chocolate pumpkin pie dense, smooth, and delicious, but I couldn't quite taste the pumpkin. Similarly, a version with black walnuts on the bottom and another with peanut butter blended into the filling were tasty, but with an eclipsed pumpkin flavor. Two additions which did work well were a half-cup of chopped candied ginger and, surprisingly, a quarter teaspoon of black pepper. The latter, the brainchild of Ladies Home Journal, provided a delightful kick. The former, suggested by Fifi's Kitchen on the Internet, simply involved scattering the ginger over the top of the filling and allowing it to sink during baking. It was superior to a version topped with a ginger streusel.

Finally, don't overbake the pie or the filling will get coarse and watery. Lush ingredients also make a difference. Just by looking I could practically distinguish between a pie made with heavy cream and one made with evaporated milk. Don't stray too far from the traditional either. For example, the frosty pumpkin pie made with ice cream was delicious but not as satisfying as conventional versions.

Now for the recipes that emerged as my favorites following a week of rigorous trials during which contracting apocolocynposis (fear of turning into a pumpkin) was a real possibility. To be honest, after all is said and done, it's still hard to beat the version on the Libby's label, but the following recipes are worthy competitors.

Mrs. Sharp's Pumpkin Pie

This unique recipe, made on top of the stove instead of baked, was a favorite of the late Mrs. Ellen Sharp, mother of Southeast history professor Dr. Charles Sharp. For 25 years she was a dietitian and school cafeteria manager in California.

Ingredients:

1 can (15 oz.) pumpkin

2/3 cup miniature marshmallows

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

2 tablespoons flour

1/8 teaspoon allspice

3/4 cup evaporated milk

1 tablespoon butter

2 eggs

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 baked pie shell

Directions:

Heat pumpkin and stir in marshmallows until dissolved. Combine sugars, spices, and flour and add milk, mixing well. Add some of pumpkin mixture to milk mixture, stirring rapidly. Add back to remaining pumpkin mixture and cook until thickened. Stir in butter. Beat eggs and add some of the hot pumpkin mixture, beating well. Add back to rest of pumpkin mixture and boil a few minutes. Remove from heat, add vanilla, cool, and pour into pie crust. Chill and serve, top with whipped cream and chopped nuts.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie

If there's anything that rivals pumpkin pie, it's pumpkin cheesecake. This recipe combines the best of both. Any crust, including a graham cracker or gingersnap crust, works well, but a cornmeal crust is especially good. The recipe is adapted from Bon Appetit magazine.

Ingredients:

6 ounces cream cheese

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 egg yolk

1 cup pumpkin puree

3/4 cup half and half

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon lemon peel

1/2 teaspoon ginger

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 pie shell

Directions:

Beat cream cheese with sugars until fluffy. Beat in eggs and yolk and add remaining ingredients, combining well. Pour filling into crust and bake at 350 degrees for 55 minutes until slightly puffed and just set in center. Cool and refrigerate at least 4 hours before serving.

Caramelized Pecan Pumpkin Pie

If some people at your Thanksgiving table prefer pumpkin pie and others pecan, this delicious concoction should please them both. The recipe is adapted from Bon Appetit magazine.

Ingredients:

2/3 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup chopped pecans

3 tablespoons butter

1 baked pumpkin pie, chilled

Directions:

Combine sugar and pecans and cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse meal. Sprinkle evenly over pie. Broil until sugar melts and bubbles, about 1 minute. Cool 15 minutes before serving.

Listen to A Harte Appetite every Saturday at 11:59 a.m. following Whad'ya Know" on KRCU 90.9 FM. Write A Harte Appetite, c/o The Southeast Missourian, P.O. Box 699, Cape Girardeau, Mo., 63702-0699 or by e-mail to tharte@semovm.semo.edu.

Tom Harte is a professor at Southeast Missouri State University and writes a food column every other week for the Southeast Missourian.