Why it works: Sugar and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 53,532 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
A Famous Lemon Pie
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the lemon
Grate the rind of the lemon and then peel it carefully, removing the sections without breaking them.
Pick apart the lemon sections, removing all thin skins and seeds, and place the pulp on a plate to catch the juice.
Make the filling
In a shallow bowl, slightly beat the egg with a fork, then gradually add the sugar, followed by the grated rind, pulp, and juice of the lemon.
Line a pie plate with puff pastry and pour the mixture into it.
Cut narrow strips of puff pastry and arrange them in a crisscross pattern on top of the filling.
Bake
Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) until the mixture rises and is slightly brown; cover lightly with paper until the crust is well baked.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + lemontop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together44,316 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Egg
- Binds the filling and helps it set and rise as it bakes.
- Granulated sugar
- Sweetens the filling and balances the sharpness of the lemon.
- Lemon
- Provides the acidity and aroma that flavour the filling.
- Puff pastry
- Forms the crust and top crosshatch, browning and crisping in the oven.
The step that matters
Covering the crust while baking. The filling needs heat to rise and set while the pastry bakes; covering lightly with paper stops the crust and top from over-browning before the pastry is fully baked.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
- Datesfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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