Winter Squash

The French use a number of different varieties of squash interchangeably and to the same ends, depending on the season. The pumpkin and Hubbard squashes are the closest American equivalents—perhaps new varieties with which I am unfamiliar have appeared (one, in the south of France, recently transplanted from North Africa, which the natives frustratingly fail to identify more specifically than as courge rouge, seems to me particularly interesting; elongated in form, it attains about 1 yard in length and 8 inches in diameter, is seedless and solid throughout with a hard brownish skin, deep red-orange flesh, and a sweet, delicate flavor).