Superior Technique Salvages 50 Pound Blue Pumpkin

People who cook always say that big squashes have no flavor. Baseball-bat zucchini end up in the compost every summer in many a garden. That big jack-o-lantern never really makes a pie worth eating. . .

Well, maybe that's because we don't treat them right. Squashes seem to start out from the blossom packed with flavor which gets less intense as they grow. It's like the water that helps them balloon in size dilutes that original charge to a low and disappointing voltage. I happen to have a Prodigious Pumpkin from my friend Mike at Harvest St. Louis. . .

. . . Which gives us the opportunity to practice one of the Cook's Maxims: Remove Water to Intensify Flavor.

Will it work?

Well, first one needs the right techniques for getting the squash apart. Read here to get the scoop on hard vegetable cutting. 

Then, get some helpers!

Scooping it out was fun, but not as fun as whacking it with the spoons. Anyway, we finally got to the next phase:

I roasted it at 325 (on 6 sheet pans!) until very tender, and even then I noticed that the cooked flesh was oozing sweet juice as I scooped it into a bowl. Well, the thing to do then was dry it out further:

We spread out the roasted meat on a silicone sheet and left it in the oven at 170 all night long. Above, you see the result.  Buttery texture, good squash flavor, a lot of sweetness.  

Yes, it took some work and some time, but it was a fun project and it yielded 2 GALLONS of puree. For example, that's 32 loaves of pumpkin bread, or enough Caramel Pumpkin Butter to preserve and give to everyone at work for a handmade Christmas gift.  At my house, we froze it in bags with some of those projects in mind. 

Sadly, the big batch of Caramel Pumpkin Butter I started making met with tragedy involving the Death of a beloved battle-scarred Le Crueset pot I have photographed dozens of times for this blog.

  

That white spot in the pan is a big chip out of the enamel, which broke into bits in my pumpkin butter.  Can't serve that.

C'est La Vie,
C'est La Guerre!

Luckily, there's still 20 cups left in the freezer.

We live to cook another day!