Name: Rhubarb Pie
Ingredients: Rhubarb stalks; Rich syrup; Pie crust; Grated lemon rind; Butter (size of a walnut); Flour

Why it works: Rhubarb and flour match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 670 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Rhubarb Pie

Ingredients

Directions

Carefully skin the rhubarb stalks and cut them into pieces half an inch long.
Scald the rhubarb in a little rich syrup, but do not cook long enough to become soft.
Set the rhubarb aside to cool slightly, then pour it into a pie plate lined with pie crust.
Add a little grated lemon rind and a piece of butter the size of a walnut to the pie.
Dredge the top with flour, cover with a top crust, and bake.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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.

Rhubarb + flourtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together670 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Rhubarb + lemontop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together546 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Rhubarb + walnuttop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together73 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Lemon + walnuttop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,149 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rhubarb, syrup, butter, walnut, flour):

Vanillafits better
Raisinfits better
Figfits better
Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rhubarb, syrup, butter, walnut, flour. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.