Why it works: Sugar and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 92,116 recipes. Both carry phenylacetaldehyde, which smells hawthorne, honey. The science ↓
Cream 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 custard
In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, cream or milk, sugar, and flour.
Cook the mixture in a double boiler until thickened.
Bake and serve
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Bake the rich pastry shell until golden.
Fill the baked shell with the custard mixture.
Whip the egg whites until stiff peaks form, then spread over the custard.
Sprinkle with pulverized sugar and bake in the oven until the meringue is 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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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Coffee + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,344 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Coffee + flourtop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,141 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Egg and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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 yolks
- Thicken the custard and add richness and color as they cook.
- Cream or rich milk
- Adds moisture and richness to the custard filling.
- Flour
- Helps thicken the custard so it sets smoothly when cooked.
- Egg whites
- Whipped into stiff peaks to form the meringue topping, which browns in the oven.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the custard and helps the meringue brown in the oven.
The step that matters
Cook the custard in a double boiler until thickened. Gentle, indirect heat lets the egg yolks and flour thicken the custard smoothly. Cooking it too fast over direct heat can scramble the eggs and leave lumps.
“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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