The proof is in the pumpkin: where to find the real deal for Thanksgiving desserts
These B.C. chefs eschew the canned stuff and source fresh gourds for a celebratory finish
Beaucoup Bakery’s kabocha tart is made with the Japanese variety of squash, which has a fluffy texture. Photo by Beaucoup Bakery
WITH THANKSGIVING UPON us, pumpkins are everywhere—in fields, on front steps, or, in miniature form, adorning dining room tables. While pumpkin pie may be a staple of family feasts, most home cooks turn to canned fruit to fill pastry shells. Some B.C. chefs, on the other hand, will have none of it. Whether for classic or contemporary desserts, by sourcing fresh gourds from local farmers at the peak of harvest season, these culinary creatives are sharing a true taste of tradition.
Betty Hung, who co-owns Vancouver’s Beaucoup Bakery and Cafe with her brother, Jacky Hung, has made a kabocha tart to mark the holiday. Kabocha is a hard winter squash of Japanese origin usually with dark green skin and sweet, yellowy-orange flesh. Hung’s dessert is made with brown butter almond cake, spiced kabocha, Dulcey cream, and kabocha Chantilly cream.
“Kabocha is locally in season, and they taste the best right now,” Hung tells Stir. “The texture is fluffy, similar to chestnut, with a sweet but not too sweet flavour. It’s one of my favourites to cook and bake with. It’s often a dessert ingredient in Japanese recipes, so I wanted to incorporate it with some French techniques in our Kabocha Tart.”
To prepare it, Hung removes the peel and the seeds, then sous-vide cooks the flesh until tender. She adds spice then blends it with caramelized Valrhona Dulcey white chocolate for a very smooth texture.
Hung, who’s mostly self-taught save for a handful of professional classes she took after applying to work at Beaucoup Bakery under its original owner, moved to Canada from Hong Kong when she was about eight. She discovered baking here while living with relatives who had the kind of spacious kitchen she had never seen before and went on to demystify baking in her cookbook French Pastry 101: Learn the Art of Classic Baking with 60 Beginner-Friendly Recipes. She’ll be celebrating this year with loved ones and of course, kabocha tart.
“Thanksgiving is about getting together with family and close friends to celebrate all the wonderful foods we have and to enjoy each other's company,” Hung says.
Kabocha squash also shows up in the Torafuku kitchen, where chef de cuisine Baker Hsu is making pumpkin-pie brûlée with Chantilly cream. He picks up the squash at Vancouver farmers markets, favouring this variety because of its light texture and mixing it with butternut squash for its sweetness. He roasts them whole. “In doing so we can lose some of the moisture and concentrate the flavour so the filling has an intense pumpkin flavour,” Hsu says. (The dessert comes with a five-course Thanksgiving turkey set for two.)
Fresh, local organic pumpkin is the pick for Pascal Georges, executive chef of Pan Pacific Hotels Group at Five Sails. He purées it for pistachio crème brûlée with pumpkin madeleine, vanilla, bourbon, and pumpkin ice cream.
Naramata Inn chef Ned Bell, a long-time supporter of local farmers, uses fresh sugar pumpkins in his pumpkin pie. Photo by Naramata Inn
In the Okanagan, chef Ned Bell is making pie with sugar pumpkins, the dessert being one option on the Thanksgiving menu at the newly appointed Naramata Inn that he runs with his wife and another couple. Bell, a long-time proponent of farm-to-fork fare, gets pumpkin, squash, and gourds from a variety of nearby places (where he knows the farmers by name), such as Medley Organics, LocalMotive, and Puzzlegrass Farms. “Flavour, flavour, flavour,” Bell says of fresh, seasonal produce. “And of course, farmers first.”
To prepare the sugar pumpkins for pie, Bell peels them, removes the seeds, and chops the pumpkin into two-inch pieces. He mixes the fruit with a pinch of salt and lightly coats with cooking oil in a mixing bowl. Then, he evenly spreads the pumpkin on a roasting pan or baking tray covered in tin foil and bakes in a 350-degree oven for 40 minutes or until tender. After cooling, the pumpkin is pureed in a food processor (not a blender) or mashed by hand until smooth—no lumps! He serves the pie with maple whipped cream.
“Thanksgiving represents the harvest,” Bell says. “It represents taste of place, and being here in the Okanagan, we’re surrounded by community and farms. It means turkey with my family—a big plate of dark meat for me
“This year more than any other I feel extremely grateful for our good fortune,” he adds. “I want to send out support to all of those in my industry and wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving.”
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