The pie crisis is upon us
So apparently bad weather has so damaged the nation’s pumpkin crops that there’s a nationwide shortage of canned pumpkin — which would not be a big deal but for the fact that next week is, oh, the one holiday on which pumpkin pie is not optional. So what does this have to do with me broadening my horizons? Simple: I am in charge of providing pumpkin pie to about a dozen dessert-lovers on Thanksgiving Day, and I don’t want to resort to substituting butternut squash or sweet potato unless I have absolutely no choice. So I need to get brave and bold and imaginative about the hunt.
Step one: Tomorrow, I am going to Trader Joe’s and Safeway to assess their pumpkin inventory. If they have canned, I’ll snag enough for a couple of pies and a few batches of my favorite pumpkin cookies. Problem solved.
Step two: In the absence of canned pumpkin, I’ll need to consider the fresh kind. It’s harder work, but I’m willing to make the effort.
Step three: If there’s no pumpkin to be found in my usual haunts, I will broaden my hunt to Cal-Mart, Bryan’s, and the giant Safeway at Market and Church.
Step four: If that doesn’t work, I’m thinking my only hope is to post a Missed Connection on Craigslist. Me: short, dark hair, deep dish pie pan. You: short, round, orange. I’ve seen you many times before but now I don’t know where to find you. Email me with something only you and I would know, like the secret ingredient in my pumpkin pie recipe.
6 Responses to “The pie crisis is upon us”
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Personally, I have no issues with the Great Pumpkin Shortage of ’09. In fact, I recommend staging a pumpkin boycott. It’s over-rated and orange. I mean really, orange? The only acceptable orange food is, in fact, an orange.
That said, Thanksgiving without a good chocolate pecan pie is a tragedy. A tragedy I say.
My response to your dislike of pumpkin pie is simple: “More for me!”
I do have a recipe for Derby pie (chocolate pecan with bourbon) which was given to me by an actual Kentucky native. If you ask nicely, I’ll share it.
Like I’m going to make a pie? I thought you knew me better than that.
jon, you are tragically delusional. pumpkin is god.
To paraphrase John Lennon, “I don’t believe in pumpkin.”
I’d recommend fresh over canned anyway. But don’t pick up the kind people carve into jack o’lanterns. They make poor eating. Pie pumpkins are a different variety, usually smaller and paler.
Other winter squash can be substituted and probably no one would known the difference. Some even claim they make a better pumpkin pie than pumpkin.