Why it works: Flour and sugar 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 ↓
Lemon Pie
Ingredients
Directions
Make the filling
Separate yolks of two eggs and two heaping tablespoons flour.
Mix yolks and flour to a paste with cold water.
Put the paste on the stove and add about one-half pint boiling water.
Add one scant cup granulated sugar, lemon juice and grated rind of one-half of a lemon, pinch of salt, and a small lump of butter to the paste, then mix all well together.
Bake
Line a pie pan with pastry, pour the mixture in while hot, and bake in a moderate oven.
Finish and brown
Beat the whites to a stiff froth and sweeten.
When the pie is done, cover with frosting and brown.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 4 of 6 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| Water | not in our table | 0 |
| Pie | not in our table | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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.
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.
-
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
-
Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, 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
- Eggs
- Yolks thicken the filling and the whites whip into a stiff foam for the topping.
- Flour
- Starch thickens the liquid into a paste that sets the filling.
- Granulated sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the tartness of the lemon.
- Lemon juice (in the method)
- Adds acidity and bright lemon flavour to the filling.
The step that matters
Cooking the flour paste on the stove. Starch in flour swells and thickens when heated in liquid. If the paste is not cooked long enough and kept hot, the filling stays thin and may not set properly in the pie.
“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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