I'm planning to improvise on this recipe as an appetizer on Thanksgiving day: http://www.epicurious.com... The largest pumpkin I could find is only 4.5 pounds, so I'll adjust the other ingredient amounts to accommodate it. I'd planned to adjust the cooking time to roast the pumpkin low and slow to avoid stringiness, but now that the pumpkin is so much smaller, I wanted to get some suggestions on cooking time/temp. Any thoughts? 450 degrees just seems really high to me.

campagnes
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3 Comments

cindyk
cindyk November 23, 2010
we grew fresh pumpkins this year and the taste is different than you the pumpkins you buy in the store. it tastes more like squash (we had some that had cross polinated with a cucumber and actually tasted more like cucumber than pumpkin) thes pumpkins are not stringy at all.
i also found that roating very large chunks in a pan with some water in the bottom is the best way to roast without burning.
 
campagnes
campagnes November 23, 2010
ahh, see, I suspected this, and was thiiiiis close to getting 3-4 acorns/butternuts and making smaller versions.. I still might, since I'm not actually making it until Thursday morning. This was specificed as a "pie pumpkin," so I don't know if that would possibly be any smoother than any other pumpkin... hm.. (filing away the "use a squash" suggestion)
 
betteirene
betteirene November 23, 2010
I usually roast 3"-4" chunks at 425, which lets it cook through and caramelize without burning.

I've found that stringiness is more of a characteristic of pumpkins, so I don't use them for cooking. Most pumpkin varieties are grown for decoration, not eating, and good eating pumpkins are hard to find. So I do what Libby and other pumpkin canners do--I use roasted Hubbard, butternut, kabocha, or any other winter squash that has a nice bright or deep orange flesh in place of pumpkin.
 
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