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
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the rhubarb
Skin the rhubarb stalks and cut them into pieces half an inch long.
Scald the rhubarb in a little rich syrup until just tender.
Set the rhubarb aside to cool.
Assemble and bake
Pour the cooled rhubarb into a pie plate lined with pie crust.
Add grated lemon rind and a piece of butter to the pie.
Dredge the top with flour.
Cover with a top crust.
Bake at 400°F (200°C) until golden.
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.
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Rhubarb + flourtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together670 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Rhubarb + lemontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together546 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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Rhubarb + walnuttop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together73 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Lemon + walnuttop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,149 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked 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
What each ingredient does
- Rhubarb stalks
- Provide the main filling, with tartness that is balanced by the sugar in the syrup.
- Rich syrup
- Sweetens the rhubarb and softens it while it is scalded.
- Grated lemon rind
- Adds aroma and brightness that complements the tart rhubarb.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat that carries flavour and gives a tender mouthfeel.
- Flour
- Thickens the juices released by the rhubarb as the pie bakes.
- Pie crust
- Forms the structure that holds the filling and browns in the oven.
The step that matters
Scalding the rhubarb until just tender. Rhubarb releases a lot of liquid as it cooks. Stopping at just tender keeps the pieces intact, and cooling before filling prevents a soggy crust and a runny pie.
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.
“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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