PSA: Level your oven

This is really a hybrid public service / pumpkin spice announcement. No matter whether pumpkin pie at your house is classic "Joy", or the classic index card your grandparent copied out of "Joy" decades ago, or "Cooks", or from Chat, or store-bought, or an absolute anathema, consider leveling your oven.

Your oven likely has adjustable feet for this purpose. These may have caused you to believe that your oven was leveled at one time. Maybe it was! Things change. If your oven is new since last Thanksgiving, check that it was installed level. If your oven is a decade old, it's a good time to re-check.

If you have a job this season, give thanks. If the job gave you old-fashioned cardstock business cards, this is their moment. A couple of these work just as well as the fiddly leveling feet for small adjustments.

Even easier than leveling your oven is adjusting its thermostat. GE has instructions online for adjusting the thermostat in up/down button ovens and number pad ovens. Other makers have similar resources for owners who either lost their paper manual or used it in step one of this blog to level their oven.

I say adjust because the picky culinary metrologists among you may object to calling this calibration. Fair enough. A reasonable alternative is to calibrate your oven with a series of measurements over its range and then keep the calibration table handy. While many ovens allow the thermostat to be adjusted by a fixed temperature offset, I found the thermostat in my own GE Profile oven to be about 10% low across the board.

This wouldn't be a real culinary blog post if I didn't make you read a whole bunch of stuff before getting to a recipe. As you wish! Just don't actually make this recipe. It doesn't feature nutmeg at all, let alone fresh nutmeg (Thanks, AI) and waiting for a toothpick to come out clean from the center of a custard pie MURDERS THE PIE.

Happy Thanksgiving from everybody at Paper Tiger.

Conversational recipe for pumpkin-forward custard brick

Me: What's my grandmother's pumpkin pie recipe?

Chat: I'm sorry, but I don't have access to personal data about individuals unless it has been shared with me in the course of our conversation. I can provide a general pumpkin pie recipe if you'd like!

Me: Well, she probably copied it out of "Joy" decades ago.

Chat: If your grandmother's pumpkin pie recipe was inspired by a classic cookbook like "Joy of Cooking," I can certainly provide you with a basic pumpkin pie recipe that follows the traditional approach. Here's a simple recipe for a classic pumpkin pie:

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cups canned pumpkin puree
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/4 cups evaporated milk
• 1 unbaked pie crust (homemade or store-bought)

Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to 425°F (220°C).
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the pumpkin puree, sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves.
3. Beat the eggs in a separate bowl and then add them to the pumpkin mixture. Mix well.
4. Gradually stir in the evaporated milk, ensuring a smooth and consistent mixture.
5. Roll out the pie crust and place it in a pie dish. Crimp the edges or decorate as desired.
6. Pour the pumpkin filling into the pie crust.
7. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes. Then, reduce the oven temperature to 350°F (175°C) and continue baking for an additional 40-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
8. Allow the pumpkin pie to cool completely before serving.

Remember, this is a basic recipe, and you can adjust the spices or other ingredients according to your preferences or any variations your grandmother might have made. Enjoy your pumpkin pie!