Name: Bob Hope's Lemon Pie
Ingredients: 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar; 3 tablespoons cornstarch; 1 cup boiling water; 4 tablespoons lemon juice; 2 tablespoons butter; 4 egg yolks; Pinch of salt; Grated rind of 1 lemon; 3 egg whites; 2 tablespoons granulated sugar; 1 baked pie shell

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 ↓

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.

Lemon + buttertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,227 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118,967 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together98,233 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together53,532 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Lemon + eggtop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together44,316 recipes

Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

Sugar and lemon 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

Cornstarch: Thickens the filling into a smooth, sliceable custard as it cooks with the boiling water.
Egg yolks: Enrich and thicken the filling, giving it a rich, smooth texture when cooked.
Egg whites: Whipped into a foam that forms the stable, airy meringue topping.
Granulated sugar: Sweetens the filling and, when whipped with egg whites, stabilizes the meringue.
Lemon juice: Adds acidity that brightens the flavor and balances the sweetness of the filling.
Butter: Adds fat for richness and a smoother mouthfeel in the filling.

The step that matters

Cool to room temperature before refrigerating. Chilling a hot pie traps steam and condensation under the meringue, which encourages weeping, where liquid beads up on the surface. Cooling first lets the filling set and the meringue stay dry and stable.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, egg):

Vanillafits better
Lemonthe original
Raisinfits about as well
Figfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, egg. 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.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Water	not in our table	0
Pie	not in our table	0

Bob Hope's Lemon Pie