Pumpkins in Austria
Pumpkins vary in size, shape and color throughout Austria and the rest of Europe. They are used mostly in cooking, but many families set them outside their front door or on their dining table as fall decoration. While they haven´t quite caught on as Jack-o-Lanterns for Halloween, most Austrians use them regularly for Kürbiscremésuppe, or pumpkin cream soup!
In the southeastern province of Styria ("Steiermark" in German), pumpkins are harvested for many reasons. With its large pumpkin harvest, the province exports many products that derive from pumpkins, these include pumpkin seed oil (Kürbiskernöl), roasted pumpkin seeds (gebackene Kürbiskerne) and pumpkin spice (Kürbisgewürze). Oddly enough, despite these mass exports of pumpkin-based products, pumpkin pie hasn´t made its way through to consumers yet.
Since pumpkin pie hasn´t fully been adopted into Austrian culture, it´s difficult to find the ingredients needed to bake one. This is where my journey began:
I was getting homesick for my soul food, which includes everything found in Amish country more or less. Luckily, Austrian cuisine is almost identical to Amish-style food (for example, sauerkraut, wurst, potatoes, more potatoes, more sauerkraut, you get the idea), but pie is still missing from the scene. In its place is torte, and although I love torte, I still miss pie!
How I prepared the pie:
1. Translating the ingredients into German
Going from largest to smallest, the basic ingredients included
Pumpkin - Kürbis
Sugar - Zucker
Eggs - Eier
Condensed milk - Kondensmilch
Cinnamon (ground) - Zimt (gemahlen)
Ginger - Ingwer
Nutmeg - Muskatnuss
Cloves - Nelken
2. Conversions
1 cup - 1 Tasse
1 pint - .47 Liter
410° F - 210° C
3. Shortcuts
Pre-made dough - gefertigter Teig
Filo pastry - Blätterteig
Short pastry - Mürbteig
And the final results were fantastic!
For all the photos from my baking experience, check out the Pumpkin Pie album
