Skip to main content
Dessert

Leuok Fib

A lemon custard pie with optional meringue topping.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Ladies' Benevolent Society, First Congregational Church (Fall River, Mass .). Ladies' Benevolent Society, Mass.) First Congregational Church (Fall River · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 17 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Lemon and corn are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,927 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Leuok Fib

two pies

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Juice and grate the rind of one lemon.

  2. Measure one cup sugar.

  3. Separate the yolks of two eggs.

  4. Measure one cup cold water.

  5. In a bowl, dissolve a heaping tablespoon of corn starch in the cold water.

  6. Bake the crust first.

Make the filling

  1. Combine the lemon juice, grated rind, sugar, egg yolks, and corn starch mixture in a dish placed in hot water and boil until thickened.

  2. Stir together one and one half cups of sugar, three tablespoons of corn starch, and a little salt.

  3. Add one pint of boiling water and boil for five minutes.

  4. Add grated rind and juice of three lemons, let it cool a little.

  5. Add the yolks and whites of four eggs beaten separately.

  6. Bake the crust partially before putting in mixture, then bake until brown.

Top and bake

  1. Beat the whites of two eggs, add two spoonfuls of sugar, spread on top and brown.

  2. Beat the whites of two eggs.

  3. Stir in a cup or half a cup of pulverized sugar to make a meringue topping.

  4. Add the whites just before putting in the oven.

  5. This makes two pies.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

594Calories
20 gProtein
7 gFat
112 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
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0
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 Ladies' Benevolent Society, First Congregational Church (Fall River, Mass .). Ladies' Benevolent Society, Mass.) First Congregational Church (Fall River. 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. Lemon + corntop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,927 recipes

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

  2. Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together53,532 recipes

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

  3. Lemon + eggtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together44,316 recipes

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

  4. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

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

  5. Sugar + corntop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together7,168 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 whites form the meringue topping.
Corn starch
Thickens the lemon filling as it boils.
Lemons
Provide the sharp acidity and flavor of the filling.
Sugar
Sweetens the filling and helps the meringue brown.

The step that matters

Thicken the filling fully. Corn starch only thickens once it reaches a boil and holds it for a moment, so an underboiled filling stays runny and may not set when cooled.

Swap the lemon

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Coconutfits about as well
  3. Raisinfits about as well
  4. Lemonthe original

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

More lemon pie recipes

Filling 23Apple 11Raisin 4 See all 602 →

You might also like

Lemon CakeLemon Cake228 recipesLemon IceLemon Ice147 recipesLemon SherbetLemon Sherbet103 recipesCorn CakeCorn Cake90 recipes