Thanksgiving

[fat robert]

My girlfriend is American and is cooking a traditional Thanksgiving dinner for us - she wants to know wether anyone knows where she can buy tinned pumpkin (for pie making purposes) in England. She says making it with fresh pumpkin is too much hassle...your thoughts would be greatly appreciated,,,

[woofgang]

waitrose, also harrods if you are in london

 

[maxi29]

I'm a great fan of cooking magazines and one thing that I've noticed is how recipes are governed by national characteristics. British food magazines are obsessed with how cheap a meal is to prepare, hence the coverlines about meals for under a fiver. French food magazines talk about quality. And American mags talk about how speed - how quickly can a meal be prepared. I think the fact that an American thinks fresh pumpkin is "too much hassle" shows that American publishers have judged their audience correctly and that Americans are quite happy to sacrifice taste in favour of speed: I bet she buys ready made pastry too.

[woofgang]

well but you don't just have to pre cook the pumpkin, you have to sieve out any stringy bits as well...There are things where you can tell canned from fresh, but with tinned pumpkin, I defy you to tell the diff (I am a Brit who spent 2 tears in NJ)

[fat robert]

Cheers woof! Waitrose came up trumps...my girlfriend says it tastes better out of the tin anyway and yes she does make her own pastry thank you maxi29! I think you offended her...

[woofgang]

you and your girlfriend are welcome...

[Homesick]

Hello, I'm an American who has lived here since 1999.  My husband is English and he has never had pumpkin pie.  I found this site and was greatful to see that someone said you could find tinned pumpkin at Waitrose, but I couldn't find it on their website.  Is there any other store?

Please help - I'm very homesick and would love to have a pumpkin pie this Thanksgiving!!!!

Homesick

[flemmot]

I found tinned pumpkin at Selfridge's as a specialty American item, but don't know if they stock it all the time.  I also taken offense to the previous comments about making it from scratch.  I have just spent the last 4 hours trying to make pumpkin for a pie, and after gutting, destringing, baking, pureeing, and then squeezing it through cheesecloth...I obtained from one medium pumpkin ALMOST enough for 1 pie!!! Bring on the tins!

[Clarkey63]

Hi,  I am from NY.  Been living here for 14 years.  I always do Thanksgiving with another American friend.  This is great, and I will try Waitrose first of all for my canned pumpkin.  It is nice to know there are other Americans out there!!! 

[rywaller]

does anyone know where to get fried onions for green bean casserole?

[lnazgul]

Hello Everyone,

I am an American (from Brooklyn, New York) now living in Australia (married a lovely aussie lady).  In any case, I had always made pumpkin pie from canned (sorry, haven't conformed with all english expressions yet) pumpkin, but similar to England, Aussies lack America's propensity to can all their veggies. 

So last year I was invited to a tradional American Thanksgiving dinner and made candied yams and pumpkin pie.  However, I had the problem with BOTH dishes of not having neither my familiar tinned (ok there I used it) pumpkin nor tinned yams and was <shudder> forced to explore using their fresh equivalents.  Now, after getting over the differnces in the way pumpkins look here (no familiar bright orange variety here) I found a nice, sweet variety of green with orange speckled skin variety.  I don't know much about fresh pumpkins, so the name of this variety eludes me, but it was suggested that it is sweet and idea for baking, so I went with it.  After finding the proper directions on how to prepare it, I must say that it was a LOT easier than I thought it would be.  Perhaps the variety one uses effects the tedium of the preparation, but it really wasn't hard, and it tasted GREAT! 

I'll include those directions for anyone willing to give it a go, but I'd suggest trying it before you completely bag the idea.  However, perhaps I just got lucky that aussies pumpkin varieties are just easier to prepare...  I'll be making the whole dinner this year for my wife's family, so wish me luck!

[lnazgul]

Fresh Pumpkin Prep:

Substitute the canned (1 can/15 ounces Pure Pumpkin ) pumpkin with 2 cups of fresh pumpkin puree� To make this:


Preferably, use the sort of pumpkin recommended for baking, green and orange coloured skin.
Remove seeds and stringy pulp from centre.
Cut the pumpkin (about half of a medium sized one) into large wedges, skin and all.
Steam for about 20-30 minutes, or until tender with a fork.
Drain and when pumpkin is cool enough to handle, remove skin with a sharp knife.
Puree pumpkin in a blender or food processor.
Pumpkin freezes well and can be stored, if need be.

[hokukonane]

I'm in Edinburgh and there are no Waitrose shops about.  Where can I get tinned pumpkin?

[Mary-Beth R]

Maxi29 is getting some heat with good reason!  I am an American, who has lived here for 23 years and still carry on precious Thanksgiving traditions. I also take considerable pride in being a good cook and I am willing to spend the time preparing something from scratch if the end result is worth the effort.  As another writer has described, spending 4 hours preparing pumpkin from scratch to end up with an inferior product is not worth it.  If you read the labels, most 'tinned pumpkin' is a mixture of pumpkin and squash.  Because the squash is a denser texture is gives a more concentrated, tastier result.  Also, the varieties of pumpkin on offer in British supermarkets are not necessarily the best variety for pie bakings.  Happy Thanksgiving, I will be visiting Waitrose tomorrow and stocking up...we celebrate on Saturday due to work commitments of the hoard gathering from across the country!