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Dessert

Mary Kec

A grape pie with a crust filled with a grape mixture thickened with flour and eggs, topped with a browned meringue.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Paidar, Marie, Mrs., [from old catalog] comp · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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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 ↓

Mary Kec

one pie

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the grapes

  1. Remove skins and stew pulp of grapes for ten minutes.

  2. Put through colander to remove seeds.

  3. Mix skins and pulp together and let boil five minutes.

Make the filling

  1. Use one cup of grape mixture for one pie, stir in one-half cup of sugar that has been mixed well with one tablespoon of flour and two yolks beaten well.

  2. Boil until thick and set aside to cool.

Assemble and brown

  1. Fill baked crust with mixture.

  2. Cover with stiffly beaten whites to which one tablespoon of powdered sugar has been added and brown lightly.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

566Calories
14 gProtein
2 gFat
124 gCarbs

Counts 3 of 4 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 3 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Grape1/2 cup (76g)62
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Pienot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Paidar, Marie, Mrs., [from old catalog] comp. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  2. Grape + flourtop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,482 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Grape + sugartop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together7,490 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Grape mixture
Forms the main body and flavor of the filling.
Sugar
Sweetens the filling and balances the tartness of the grapes.
Flour
Thickens the filling as it boils, helping it set.
Egg yolks
Thicken the filling as they cook and add richness.
Egg whites (in the method)
Whipped into a stiff topping that holds its shape and browns in the oven.

The step that matters

Boil until thick. Flour starch swells and thickens when boiled, and egg yolk proteins set when heated. If the filling is not cooked long enough, it stays runny and will not hold a clean slice.

Swap the grape

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

  1. Raisinfits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Blueberryfits better
  4. Grapethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, 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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