Why it works: Lemon and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,227 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓
Lemon Pie
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the filling
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, combine the lemon juice, grated rind, rolled cracker, and beaten egg yolks.
In a saucepan, mix sugar, water, and butter; heat until the sugar dissolves.
Pour the sugar mixture into the lemon mixture and stir well.
Pour the filling into a prepared pie crust and bake until set.
Top with meringue
Whip the egg whites until stiff peaks form, then gradually add powdered sugar.
Spread the meringue over the baked pie and return to the oven until lightly browned.
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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Lemon + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Lemon + eggtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together44,316 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
Lemon and sugar 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
- Eggs
- Yolks thicken the filling as it sets, and whites whip into the meringue topping.
- Lemon
- Juice and rind provide the acidity and bright aroma of the filling.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and, dissolved in water, forms a syrup that gives the filling body.
- Soda cracker
- Rolled fine, it adds body to the filling as it bakes.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat to the filling.
The step that matters
Baking the filling until set. Egg yolks set as they heat, so underbaking leaves the filling runny while overbaking can make it weep or turn tough.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, butter):
- Vanillafits better
- Lemonthe original
- Raisinfits about as well
- Figfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, butter. 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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