The frost on the pumpkin is a phrase that weathermen and old timers toss about this time of year, but I've never been too sure what it means or the origin of the phrase. If I'd been raised in the Midwest, I may have known it - just like Georgians are schooled on Sidney Lanier's poetry ("Out of the hills of Habersham, Down the valleys of Hall"), apparently Indianans are raised on the poetry of James Whitcomb Riley, the "Hoosier Poet."
The poem concerns the turn of the seasons on a mid-19th century Indiana farm. It's in dialect, but the charm of the lines shines through:
With Riley's words as inspiration, I concocted a dessert of spiced pumpkin custard topped with frost, a billowy pillow of meringue.
1 cup heavy cream
1 egg yolk plus 2 whole eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup canned pumpkin puree
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice.
1. Preheat oven to 325. Butter four 1/2 cup custard cups. Fill a teakettle with water and heat to boiling.
2. Heat cream in a small, heavy saucepan. Remove from heat and temper the yolks by slowly pouring half of the cream into the egg yolks, whisking all the while. Pour the yolk mixture into the remaining cream. Stir in pumpkin, maple syrup, sugar, cinnamon and allspice. Strain the mixture and pour into custard cups.
3. Set the custard cups in a baking pan. Place pan in oven and gently pour boiling water from teakettle into pan, halfway up the sides of the cups, being careful not to splash the custards.
4. Bake at 325 for about 40 minutes, or until set. Remove from oven and let cool. These are delicious at this point, but if you want to gild the lily (or Indiana's state flower, the peony!), add a frosting of meringue.
4 egg whites
1/3 teaspoon cream of tartar
7 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
1. In the very clean bowl of an electric mixer, pour in egg whites and and cream of tartar and whip lightly for a minute. Gradually increase speed of mixer and add sugar one tablespoon at a time until the peaks are stiff and glossy. Stir in vanilla extract and a pinch of salt.
2. Swirl meringues onto pumpkin custards and bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes or until lightly brown. Serve warm.
Glass pumpkins at the Atlanta Botanical Garden. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books |
The frost on the pumpkin is a phrase that weathermen and old timers toss about this time of year, but I've never been too sure what it means or the origin of the phrase. If I'd been raised in the Midwest, I may have known it - just like Georgians are schooled on Sidney Lanier's poetry ("Out of the hills of Habersham, Down the valleys of Hall"), apparently Indianans are raised on the poetry of James Whitcomb Riley, the "Hoosier Poet."
The poem concerns the turn of the seasons on a mid-19th century Indiana farm. It's in dialect, but the charm of the lines shines through:
With Riley's words as inspiration, I concocted a dessert of spiced pumpkin custard topped with frost, a billowy pillow of meringue.
Pumpkin custards with meringue. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books |
The Frost on the Pumpkin:
Pumpkin Custards with Meringue
Serves 4
1 cup heavy cream
1 egg yolk plus 2 whole eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup canned pumpkin puree
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice.
1. Preheat oven to 325. Butter four 1/2 cup custard cups. Fill a teakettle with water and heat to boiling.
2. Heat cream in a small, heavy saucepan. Remove from heat and temper the yolks by slowly pouring half of the cream into the egg yolks, whisking all the while. Pour the yolk mixture into the remaining cream. Stir in pumpkin, maple syrup, sugar, cinnamon and allspice. Strain the mixture and pour into custard cups.
3. Set the custard cups in a baking pan. Place pan in oven and gently pour boiling water from teakettle into pan, halfway up the sides of the cups, being careful not to splash the custards.
4. Bake at 325 for about 40 minutes, or until set. Remove from oven and let cool. These are delicious at this point, but if you want to gild the lily (or Indiana's state flower, the peony!), add a frosting of meringue.
Digging in to a meringue-topped pumpkin custard. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books |
Meringue
4 egg whites
1/3 teaspoon cream of tartar
7 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
1. In the very clean bowl of an electric mixer, pour in egg whites and and cream of tartar and whip lightly for a minute. Gradually increase speed of mixer and add sugar one tablespoon at a time until the peaks are stiff and glossy. Stir in vanilla extract and a pinch of salt.
2. Swirl meringues onto pumpkin custards and bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes or until lightly brown. Serve warm.
A pumpkin from my garden. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books. |
Text & images copyright 2010, Lucy Mercer with the exception of the text of the poem.
"The Frost is on the Punkin" quoted from www.bartleby.com
The glass pumpkins are from the Cohn-Stone Studios in California and are on display at the Atlanta Botanical Garden.
The recipes are adapted from the Martha Stewart Cookbook (1995, Clarkson Potter)
Lucy, we like your "Frost on the Pumpkin" dish so much, we're pinning it to The Home Depot Garden Club Pinterest board. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteLynn