I'm thinking of writing a cookbook for men ( Archived) (37)

Men are either excellent cooks or they can't boil water without burning it. I think mothers of boys are the ones who decide whether their male offspring learn to cook or not. This is especially true in days past when the idea of a mans work and a womans work was clearly defined. Thank goodness times are changing even though it's still too slow. My mother was an excellent Hungarian cook but she never encouraged either me or my brother to help out in the kitchen but she spent a lot of time with my sister. Old stereotypes die slowly it seems.

Today I take pride in what I can do in the kitchen. Learning to make such simple things like rice was a reason to celebrate. I think men have a natural predisposition to cooking because of the way their brains work. They are analytical whereas women are artistic and in as much as cooking is nothing more than chemistry combined with elevated temperatures, it follows that men have the innate ability to make great cooks.

This is a recipe for Pumpkin Pie I started with out of a cookbook written in 1920 called "The Settlement Cook Book" It was written when most kitchens were equiped with wood burning stoves and there was no such thing as refrigeration. People in the country kept their perishables from going bad by putting them in a creek or in a hole dug deep in the ground where it was cooler.
for baking, they used words like "very hot" or "medium oven" instead of temperatures. To make biscuits you needed a very hot oven so you had to have a ready supply of Poplar split small which burned hot and fast to get the temperature of the oven up. This was called "Biscuit Wood". This book was invaluable to me because for 10 years I lived on a farm with nothing but a huge wood burning cookstove for not only cooking but for heat as this farmhouse had no other heating system except another wood stove in the living room. One winter we had a big ice storm go through which knocked out the power to the whole area for days. Every room at the motel in town was sold out (they had their own generator). Aside from no TV or electric lights at night it didn't affect us at all.
The following recipe is one that I have been perfecting over the years by trying different little changes until I don't think it's possible to improve. I'm interested to hear from anybody who makes this as to how it came out and especially from men as to how easy it is to understand and follow.
I got a little long in the tooth so I'll put the recipe on the next page.

PUMPKIN PIE
FOR 2 PIES *
2 Frozen Deep Dish Pie Crusts
1 1/2 Cups Brown Sugar. Packed tight.
1 tsp Salt
2 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Ground Ginger
1/4 tsp Ground Cloves (OR 3 tsp pumpkin pie spice instead of Cinnamon, Ginger, and Cloves)
3 Eggs
3 Cups Pumpkin *
1 1/2 cans Evaporated Milk = 18oz

Mist 2 THAWED, frozen pie crusts with water and sprinkle with Salt. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until crust gets a nice amber color. If a big bubble appears during baking stab it with a fork. Baking the crust is important otherwise the crust will taste raw. The salt will add flavor to the crust which otherwise will taste like dough.

While the crusts are baking, dump all the ingredients in a big bowl and beat with an electric mixer on low speed. Pour equal amounts of filling into the 2 pie crusts. Bake in 375 deg for 60 minutes or until filling is "set". If after about 45 minutes the crust is getting too dark and the filling looks "loose" lower the temp to 300 and continue baking until filling is "set" Forget that bit about sticking a toothpick in it just jiggle the pie with a gloved hand, if it isn't done, the center will look liquidy.

While it's perfectly ok to use canned pumpkin I seize the opportunity to scrounge up some unwanted pumpkins around Thanksgiving and make a large batch of pumpkin which I freeze for making pies. You can't imagine the difference in taste. There are several ways to prepare pumpkin for pies. The 2 most common ways is to boil it or bake it. For baking, cut it in half, scoop out the seeds & the slimy stuff, place it upside down on a cookie sheet and bake it at around 300 deg til it gets kinda soft and caves in a little. **Scoop out the pumpkin and discard the shell. For boiling, cut the pumpkin into baseball size pieces peel like a potato and boil like you were making mashed potatoes.

* For 1 pie cut all ingredients in half except use 2 eggs

** The best tool for this is a lid from a large tin can.

The only problem with that idea is A, it will be Pumpkin Pudding by the time it gets there and B, judging how slow international shipments are it might have hair growing on it when it arrives.

I guess you're just gonna have to get out in that kidchen and rattle those pots & pans.

Wow, look at you! You go girl!