Name: Lemon Pie
Ingredients: two cups of sugar; half cupful sweet milk; a pint of water; two lemons; one table-spoonful corn starch; six eggs; eight table- spoonfuls of sugar; two pies

Why it works: Milk and corn are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,955 recipes. Both carry hexanal, which smells green, grassy. The science ↓

Lemon Pie

two pies

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Bake two lemons for a short time, then squeeze and strain the juice.
Boil the lemon rind in half a pint of water.

Make the filling

Pour the water into a mixture of two cups sugar, half a cupful sweet milk, one tablespoonful corn starch, one tablespoon of butter, and the yolks of six eggs.
Bake the mixture in a pie shell.

Top and brown

Beat the egg whites with eight tablespoonfuls of sugar, then pour over the pie.
Brown slightly.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

743Calories

28 gProtein

15 gFat

124 gCarbs

Counts 5 of 7 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 5 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
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.

By Vehling, Joseph Dommers, 1879-1950. fmo. 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.

Milk + corntop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,955 recipes

Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
Lemon + corntop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,927 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together19,053 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together53,532 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together88,785 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

Eggs: Yolks thicken the filling and add richness; whites whip into the topping.
Corn starch: Thickens the liquid filling so it sets into a sliceable custard.
Lemons: Provide the tart acidity and bright flavor of the filling.
Sugar: Sweetens the filling and stabilizes the beaten egg white topping.
Sweet milk: Adds moisture and richness to the custard filling.