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Dessert

Strawberry Cream Pie

A pie filled with sweetened strawberries and a custard made from milk, eggs, sugar, and corn starch.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Fayette (Mo.). Baptist Church, Ladies of the · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Corn and milk 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 ↓

Strawberry Cream Pie

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the pie

  1. Line a dish with pastry, and fill with strawberries made very sweet with powdered sugar.

  2. Cover with pastry, but do not pinch down at the edges.

Make and add the custard

  1. When done, lift the top crust and pour over the berries the following mixture after it is perfectly cold.

  2. In a saucepan, heat one small cup of milk (or part cream) to boiling.

  3. Whisk the whites of two eggs, beaten and stirred lightly, into the boiling milk.

  4. Add one tablespoon of white sugar and half a teaspoon of corn starch wet with milk; stir all together and cook for three minutes.

Finish

  1. Replace the top crust and sprinkle sugar over the top before serving.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

731Calories
27 gProtein
14 gFat
120 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49

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

By Fayette (Mo.). Baptist Church, Ladies of the. 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. Corn + milktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,955 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).

  2. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

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

  3. Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

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

  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 milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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
Egg whites set in the hot milk, helping thicken the custard.
Corn starch
Thickens the custard as it cooks in the boiling milk.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard.
White sugar
Adds sweetness to the custard.

The step that matters

Cook the custard for three minutes after adding the starch. Cornstarch must reach a boil and stay hot for the full time to swell and thicken. Stopping early leaves the custard thin and runny, so it may not hold when poured over the berries.

“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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