Boing Boing pal Blackhound believes that Thanksgiving pumpkin pie is serious business, and he offers a photo-tutorial on how to prepare spices for said pie for maximum deliciousness.
Pie, like most of the food I make, I like to make from scratch. Call me a slow foodie, call me obsessive compulsive, just don't call me late for pie! So here, days before Thanksgiving, I start my meal preparations not with brining a turkey (a practice I frown upon, btw), but with the most basic of ingredients for that most essential of dishes: the pumpkin pie spices, (1) cinnamon, (2) ginger, (3) nutmeg, and (4) allspice.Spoiler: Yes! Otherwise, this blog post would consist of the HOWTO instructions, "buy boxed spice-dust at grocery store. open container. shake. repeat."But is grinding your own spices actually better?
PUMPKIN PIE SPICES, OR HOW TO ROLL YOUR OWN. Includes advice on tools and portions and where to find spices in the raw.
RSS Feed
my life would be a sad dull place without a spice grater, cinnamon sticks and nutmegs. they find their way into more food than just pumpkin pie all year around.
now, i'm going to have to put a cold towel on my forehead and rest after seeing the shocking image of powdered ginger. i heard such horrors existed but never knew it was true.
#1, that isn't powdered ginger. Read the article and he explains that it is a "wet mash" of grated ginger.
Don't forget to make twice as much spice so you can add some to a nice homebrew Brown Ale or Porter. Add your spices after the boil, one the way down, at around 160-180F. 1 Tbsp for 5 gallons should do it for about a 6-7% ABV. Maybe a 1/2 a cardamom pod, or a tsp of crushed juniper berries for darker beers.
Oh the joy of mulled cider with freshly ground spices. Must be the Holidays. Don't frown on brining, can produce excellent results when done right.
Dried ginger > fresh. You'll need to use ~8x as much fresh as you would dried, and it still won't taste the same (or as good, IMO).
Pumpkin pie without cloves? What is the world coming to...
I'm with randomcat-- cloves in mine, and not nutmeg (that's for pesto). Agreed w/Patrick re: ginger too, go with dried. For a little extra spice, swap some dried galangal for ginger (1/2 & 1/2)-- adds a nice wtf-factor.