IllustrationWhy it works: Rhubarb and flour match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and 638 recipes mention both. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: egg, milk, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Also mentioned in the method: butter
Directions
Prepare the filling
Cut up one cup rhubarb.
Beat the yolks of two eggs with one tablespoon flour and one cup sugar.
Add a lump of butter.
Bake and finish
Bake with a few strips crust across the top.
When done, make meringue of whites of eggs and brown in oven.
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. See the original page.
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Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Rhubarb + flourtop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together638 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + flourtop 8% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together104,138 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + flourtop 10% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together89,462 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Sugar + eggtop 10% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together122,252 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Rhubarb + sugartop 11% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together1,852 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Egg and flour share little aroma chemistry, yet 104,138 recipes mention both: they likely 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
- Provides the tart flavour that the sugar balances in the filling.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and balances the tartness of the rhubarb.
- Eggs
- Yolks thicken the filling as it bakes, and whites form the meringue topping.
- Flour
- Thickens the filling so it sets rather than running out when cut.
The step that matters
Brown the meringue in the oven. Meringue is whipped egg white with sugar, and it can weep or stay pale if underbaked or if it is spread on a filling that is still hot. Browning it briefly sets the structure and gives colour without overcooking the filling.
“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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