Name: Rhubarb Pies
Ingredients: Rhubarb stalks; Butter; Sugar; Cinnamon (optional); Nutmeg (optional); Pie crust

Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Rhubarb Pies

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the rhubarb

Remove the skin from the rhubarb stalks.
Cut the rhubarb stalks into small pieces and wash them.
Place the pieces in a pot to stew with minimal water.
Mash the rhubarb once cooked.
Mix in a small piece of butter.
Allow the mixture to cool.
Sweeten to taste, adding cinnamon or nutmeg if desired.

Assemble and bake

Line pie plates with crust.
Fill the crust with the rhubarb mixture.
Bake at 400°F (200°C).
Transfer the baked pies to serving plates.
Sift sugar over the top.

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.

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.

Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together11,917 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Rhubarb + cinnamontop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together279 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
Rhubarb + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together177 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together30,779 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Butter + cinnamontop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,784 recipes

Shared aroma: anethole (sweet, anise).

Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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

Rhubarb stalks: Provide the main tart filling that the pie is built around.
Butter: Adds richness and a softer, rounder mouthfeel to the cooked filling.
Sugar: Sweetens the tart rhubarb and balances its acidity.
Pie crust: Forms the structure that holds the filling and bakes to a golden base.

“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.