Halve the pumpkin, take out the seeds—rinse the pumpkin, and cut it into small strips—stew them, over a moderate fire, in just sufficient water to prevent their burning, to the bottom of the pot. When stewed soft, turn off the water, and let the pumpkin steam, over a slow fire, for fifteen or twenty minutes, taking care that it does not burn. Take it from the fire, and strain it, when cool, through a sieve. If you wish to have the pies very rich, put to a quart of the stewed pumpkin two quarts of milk, and twelve eggs. If you like them plain, put to a quart of the pumpkin one quart of milk, and three eggs. The thicker the pie is of the pumpkin, the less will be the number of eggs required for them. One egg, with a table-spoonful of flour, will answer for a quart of the pumpkin, if very little milk is used. Sweeten the pumpkin with sugar, and very little molasses—the sugar and eggs should be beaten together. Ginger, the grated rind of a lemon, or nutmeg, is good spice for the pies. Pumpkin pies require a very hot oven. The rim of the pies is apt to get burnt before the inside is baked sufficiently. On this account, it is a good plan to heat the pumpkin scalding hot when prepared for pies, before turning it into the pie plates. The pies should be baked as soon as the plates are filled, or the under crust to the pies will be clammy. The more the number of eggs in the pies, the less time will be required to bake them. If you have pumpkins that have begun to decay, or those that are frozen, they can be kept several months, in cold weather, by cutting the good part up, stewing it till soft, then stirring it, and adding sugar and molasses, to make it very sweet. Make it strong of ginger, then scald the seasoning in well. Keep it in a stone jar, in a cool place—whenever you wish to use any of it for pies, take out the quantity you wish, and put milk and eggs to it.
Scrape the skin off from the carrots, boil them soft, and strain them through a sieve. To a pint of the strained pulp put three pints of milk, six beaten eggs, two table-spoonsful of melted butter, the juice of half a lemon, and the grated rind of a whole one. Sweeten it to your taste, and bake it in deep pie plates without an upper crust.
Boil Carolina or mealy Irish potatoes, till very soft—when peeled, mash and strain them. To a quarter of a pound of potatoes, put a quart of milk, three table-spoonsful of melted butter, four beaten eggs, a wine glass of wine—add sugar and nutmeg to the taste.
Procure sweet mellow apples, pare and grate them. To a pint of the grated pulp put a pint of milk, a couple of eggs, two table-spoonsful of melted butter, the grated peel of a lemon, and half a wine glass of brandy. Sweeten it to the taste with nice brown sugar. The eggs should be beaten to a froth, then the sugar stirred into them, and mixed with the rest of the ingredients. A little stewed pumpkin, mixed with the apples, improves the pie. Bake the pie in deep plates, without an upper crust.
Take tart juicy apples—quarter them, and stew them till soft enough to rub through a sieve. To twelve table-spoonsful of the strained apple, put twelve of sugar, the same quantity of wine, six table-spoonsful of melted butter, four beaten eggs, the juice and grated rind of a lemon, half a nutmeg, and half a pint of milk. Turn this, when the ingredients are well mixed together, into deep pie plates that are lined with pastry, and a rim of puff paste round the edge. Bake the tarts about half an hour.