The 3 C's of great pumpkin pie

Thanksgiving food can be summed up in two words...two glorious words we wait all year to say:

PUMPKIN PIE!

Anyone who knows me knows I am crazy about anything with the word "pumpkin" in it. But pumpkin pie goes beyond that. It is a family tradition. If you're a Neal, you love pumpkin pie. (That weird Turner branch doesn't...but then, they're not Neals, are they?) My dad only likes two desserts, and pumpkin pie is the winter one (the summer one is homemade strawberry shortcake - homemade NEAL strawberry shortcake, which is different story altogether, but I'll save that for another post). We eat pumpkin pie for dessert, fighting over every scrap and licking the plate until its clean. (yes, there's a slight bit of exaggeration for effect here. But not as much as you'd think!) Then the morning after Thanksgiving, Mom pulls out the extra pumpkin pie she hid from the ravening hordes and we eat it for breakfast. That is what we do.

The baker of this all-important dish in our family? Yours truly. Now, I don't mean to brag because truthfully I am not a great cook, but I must say I have mastered the art of pumpkin pie. And if you want to know how to make a truly delightful pumpkin pie, all you have to do are follow the 3 C's of pumpkin pie baking:

1) Claim. You have to stake your claim as the only person capable of or ever allowed to bake pumpkin pie. You must do this as soon as you are old enough to bake without assistance. Make it clear that, because you are the oldest, it is your right, your privilege, and your responsibility to bake the pumpkin pies. This usually works because your younger brothers and sisters aren't old enough to bake. This gives you a chance to practice every year until you get really good at it. Now, after a few years, your brothers and sisters may have gotten older and started to protest. "Mom, how come she gets to bake the pumpkin pie? She's done it all these years. It's MY turn!" But fortunately, you have already established your claim. It is YOUR thing. "But Mom, I ALWAYS bake the pumpkin pie. It's my contribution to Thanksgiving! Don't you want me to help? Think of all the other things you have to do. And he/she won't do it right. You KNOW it's Dad's favorite..." This will work. (Usually.) Having established your prior claim, soon you will have everybody else in the family thinking that you are the only person who is capable of making truly perfect pumpkin pies, and with all your practice, it will probably be true!

2) Conviction. Once Claim is established, you must bake the pies with Conviction. You must believe in your Libby's Pumpkin Pie Recipe and stick to it - yet also not be afraid to add 1 teaspoon of nutmeg that the recipe does not call for. It will make a difference. You must have the Conviction to add that second can of evaporated milk even though the batter already looks runny enough and you are afraid it will be too thin if you add any more. You must have the Conviction that, although freshly pureed pumpkin and homemade evaporated milk may SEEM healthier, the pie really does need the canned stuff to reach it's optimum perfection. (It's only once a year!) And finally, most importantly, you must have the Conviction that your secret ingredient - your great-grandmother's pie crust recipe - will not fail you.

3) Courage. After you have made your batter and formed your pie shell with Conviction, you must finally have the Courage to pour it into the shell. The Courage to pour it even though your fear that the shell is too shallow and the filling too voluminous and it will pour all over the counter threatens to overwhelm you! Because if you can find that Courage - the Courage to fill it all the way to the top, no matter how precarious it may appear, you will have reached the optimum pie-to-filling ratio and, once that pie is baked and cooled and solid, you will have delicious pumpkin all the way up to the very top of the crust. (It also helps to have the Foresight to put a baking sheet under the pie in the oven so if it does happen to overflow, you don't have to clean burned pumpkin pie filling off your oven.) And finally, once that timer dings, you must have the Courage to pull it out, even if the center is a little wobbly, knowing beyond all doubt that it will firm up once it cools.

There you have it. The 3 C's of perfect pumpkin pie: Claim, Conviction, and Courage. Follow them and you, too, can master the Official Thanksgiving Dessert of the Neal Clan.