Cooking Winter Squash

debodun

debodun

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Location
way upstate in New York, USA
I bought two dumpling squash from a farm store. I cut one in six wedges lengthwise, placed them in a baking pan with an inch of water and baked at 350ºF for an hour. I took it out and tested it with a fork for doneness and it was still as hard as when I put it in the oven. I turned up the heat to 375ºF and let it rip for another half hour. It was still pretty hard. I've never had this problem cooking squash before - they were even more difficult to cut, too- really hard and dense. I wondered if that's because we had a vert warm and dry summer. Any advice on how to cook the other one?

dumpling squash.jpg
 

That's surprising to me too, Deb. Are we sure your oven is working correctly and on the correct settings?

(And plugged in... :ROFLMAO::LOL::D ?
I am just reminding myself, of those ridiculous "trouble-shooting" manuals that come with new appliances :ROFLMAO: )

I usually just cut those winter squashes in half, and bake them, dry.
Or with bit of margarine or brown sugar on top, for the final 10 minutes.

Microwave works well for them, too, for those who microwave.
 

Another way to cook them, is to cut up in smaller pieces, as you did,
and put those in a steamer, with water in the underneath pot,
on top of the stove.
It's much quicker.
 
debodun said:
I bought two dumpling squash from a farm store. I cut one in six wedges lengthwise, placed them in a baking pan with an inch of water and baked at 350ºF for an hour. I took it out and tested it with a fork for doneness and it was still as hard as when I put it in the oven. I turned up the heat to 375ºF and let it rip for another half hour. It was still pretty hard. I've never had this problem cooking squash before - they were even more difficult to cut, too- really hard and dense. I wondered if that's because we had a vert warm and dry summer. Any advice on how to cook the other one?

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I've never cooked/baked dumpling squash before, but whenever I prepare spaghetti squash, I cut in half lengthwise, rub a little olive oil onto the cut surface of both halves, then set the halves face down - cut side onto a flat cookie sheet, and bake until tender, usually 45 mins (give or take) at 350° depending on the size of the squash.
 
I did the other one this morning and it came out perfectly. I changed the oven temp to 380ºF, used more water in the baking pan and covered that with a cookie sheet and let it go for 90 minutes, then turned off the oven and let it sit in it for another hour. Easy to scoop out - sweet and tender! Dumplings, like delicata, need no sweetener added, just some salt, pepper and butter.
 
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Yes, the dumpling squash and the delicotta's are sweet and delicious.....

They usually cook more quickly than other types of winter squashes, though.
Not those 2 of yours! ;)

I'm glad the 2nd one cooked up well for you, but that's a long time to use the stove fuel cost.... And it seems to me, that your method for that one, (more water, cover, and high temp)
is similar to steaming, which could be done in a half hour, on stove top, as I described above.

Just ideas, for the next time, as they are truly worth getting. Very delicious, and nutritious, and easy to chew and digest.
 
The simplest cheap ones in the grocery store or any store, (in case anyone is interested)
adjust in diameter and therefore, will fit into any pot you already have and would boil water in, on top of the stove.

It's easy to cook so many foods in. Most used, and least expensive item in kitchen.
 
katlupe said:
I cook them in the Instant Pot and they cook fast and are really good. I think it takes 6 minutes. Or less
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Wow! That's great. (y):)

I don't have one of those Instant Pots, but I have a "rice cooker" which cooks things other than rice.
I wonder if slices or chunks of winter squash could be cooked in mine?:unsure:
 
I don't know but you could probably find out on I just went to YouTube and put in the search "cooking in a rice cooker" and a lot of videos come up about cooking other foods in it. You can experiment.
 

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