How to make Pumpkin Pie Idioms American English Pronunciation

As it’s almost Thanksgiving, today I’m going
to show you how to make one of my favorite

Thanksgiving treats. And that is a pumpkin
pie, which we’re going to make from scratch.

Of course, we’ll also learn some about American
English pronunciation.

First, we pick out the pumpkin.

What do you think of this one?

What do you think of this one? There’s a lot

of reduction and linking happening in this
phrase. The T in the word ‘what’ is generally

pronounced as a stop, not released. However,
the next word is ‘do’, which begins with a

D sound. That’s the same position as the T.
So in this particular case, rather than having

a stop T go into a D, it’s even more casual
and the T is dropped altogether. What do you

think? Wha-duh-yuh, wha-duh-yuh. This is a
common way to pronounce the word ‘what’ and

‘do’. What do you think? What do you like?
What do you mean? … for example. And you’ve

probably noticed that in the word ‘do’, the
oo vowel is reduced to the schwa. This is

the same as in the word ‘you’: the vowel is
reduced to the schwa. Wha-duh-yuh, wha-duh-yuh,

wha-duh-yuh. So those three unaccented words
are all linked together, low in pitch, very

smooth. Wha-duh-yuh, wha-duh-yuh, What do
you think? So the word ‘think’ is stressed,

none of the sounds reduce here. But the next
word, ‘of’, I pronounce this with only the

schwa sound. So I reduce it so much that the
vv, V sound is dropped altogether. What do

you think of this one? So the word ‘of’ is
simply pronounce uh, uh, uh, uh-this one,

uh-this one. What do you think of this one?
Listen again.

What do you think of this one?

With the sugar pumpkin purchased:

The first step is to cut the pumpkin in half.

It’s kind of hard to cut, if I remember correctly.
It’s very firm. // This is my friend Laura. I

spent the weekend with her in Massachusetts
and we did lots of baking. »Oo, beautiful.

Next, pull out the pulp and the seeds. »Ok,
you know what? I’m just going to go with the

hands. Much easier. // While we were in the kitchen,
we looked out the window and noticed the first

snow of the season was beginning. »If you’ll
notice, we made some apple bran muffins to

tide us over while we’re baking, along with
some homemade apple butter. Did you notice?

I used the idiom ‘tide us over’. This means
to have a small amount of something for a

short period of time until the issue can be
addressed in a larger way. For example, I

had a small snack to tide me over until dinner.
He borrowed some money to tide him over until

his next paycheck. I picked up a few things
to tide us over until the weekend when we

can really go shopping. Listen again. » We
made some apple bran muffins to tide us over

while we’re baking, along with some homemade
apple butter. So that’s going to be delicious,

and we’re going to eat that while the pumpkin
roasts. So now, we’ve put our two emptied-out

halves on the baking pan, and we’re going
to put it in the oven at 350 [degrees Fahrenheit]

for about an hour, hour and a half. Let’s
set the timer. Let’s dig into these.

Here I used the idiom to dig into something. This
means to start eating, especially something

you’re excited about. Eating with enthusiasm.
Let’s dig into these. Listen again.

Let’s dig into these.
Mark, what are you doing?

I am going to roast some pumpkin seeds,

which you guys extracted from the whole pumpkin.

Which is now out of the oven and cooling.

Put some seasoning salt, put a little cayenne
pepper, not too much. What else? Kinda just

eyeballing this here. Kinda just eyeballing
this here. Mark used the idiom to eyeball

something. That means he’s not measuring.
He’s just guessing the amounts of the spices

as he adds them to the seeds. Kinda just eyeballing
this here. »What else? Kinda just eyeballing

this here. So when you scoop the seeds out
of the pumpkin, save them. Rinse them well

and separate them from the stringy orange
part of the pumpkin. Let them air dry some,

and add some oil. Mark recommends using a
lot of salt. He also adds paprika, chili pepper,

and other spices to taste. Then put them in
the oven. When they start popping, they’re

ready to be taken out. »Oh, I heard that.

I heard it too. Oh! »They’re popping, indeed,

so, we can take them out. Did you notice,
Mark reduced the word ‘them’ to the schwa

and the M sound: uhm, uhm, take ‘em, take
‘em out. This is a common way to reduce the

word ‘them’ in everyday speech. Take ‘em out,
bring ‘em here, give ‘em water, for example.

Also notice Mark makes a stop T on the word
‘out’. He does not release it: out. He simply

brings his tongue into position for the T,
out, cutting off the sound. Take ‘em out.

Listen again. »They’re popping indeed, so,
we can take them out. »Yum, those look great.

Try one. Yum. »Crunch? »Mm, mm-hmm. Really
delicious. What do you think chef, are you

happy? »Pretty happy. // Back to the pumpkin.
Once it’s cooled, separate the skin from the

rest of the pumpkin. The skin does not go
into the pie.

Now Laura is going to puree
the pumpkin with an immersion blender.

Now we’re going to put in some
sugar, egg, evaporated

milk, some spices. For the full recipe, see
the description on YouTube under the video,

or, see the link on my website. Now Laura
has loaded up the food processor… »Yes.

…with all the ingredients for our homemade
pie crust. »And now, we roll out the crust.

What’s that you have under the crust? I
have a little plastic wrap underneath it so

that when it’s time to transfer it, you just
scoop it up and turn it over and pull the

plastic off. »I’m pretty serious about my
pies, it’s true. I like a good pie.

Ok, I think we’re almost ready. And now, now normally,
you can use a pie pan, we’re using a skillet,

a cast-iron skillet, and I’ve found it makes
a really nice – nicely done crust. It’s not

at all soggy on the bottom. Fast forward,
shaping the crust in the dish.

And now, we pour it in.

How far up should I go?

I think put all of it in.
It’s gonna be too much.

It’s gonna be too much. Did you notice
that Laura said ‘gonna’ instead of going to.

It’s gonna be too much. »It’s gonna be too
much. Oh my gosh, it’s gonna fit. All of it

is going to fit. That’s one whole pumpkin,
folks. »We’ve determined the pie is done.

So, she comes out of the oven. Now she’s nice
and puffy, but this will collapse as it cools.

Let the pie cool for several hours. »And
here is the finished product. Unfortunately

I have to show it to you by candle light because,
if you’ll remember, that snow that we were

so excited about: we’ve gotten maybe 6 inches,
maybe more, and the power’s out. It’s been

out for a couple of hours. I expect it will
be out for the entire night. So, in the low

light, let’s go ahead and cut the pie. Oh
yeah. So, mm, man, I’ve got to say, I’m pretty

excited about this. I’ve gotta say. The words
‘I have got to’ can reduce to ‘I’ve gotta’

or even simply ‘I gotta’ in everyday conversation.
I gotta go, I gotta say, I gotta see that

… for example. Man, I’ve gotta say, I’m pretty
excited about this.

Mm-hmm. It’s really good.
Guten appetit!