Why it works: Flour and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 106,462 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Currant Pie
Ingredients
Directions
Make the filling
Mash 1 cup of ripe currants.
Add 1 cup of sugar, 1 heaping tablespoonful of flour, 2 tablespoonfuls of water and the yolks of 2 eggs.
Place in crust.
Make the cornstarch paste
Make a smooth paste of 2 tablespoonfuls of cornstarch and 3 tablespoonfuls of cold water.
Pour the paste into 1 pint of boiling water and 1 cup of sugar.
Boil well; add the whites of 1 egg, beaten to a froth, and a pinch of salt.
Top and bake
Use the whites of the eggs for frosting.
Add whipped white of 1 egg, into which 1 tablespoonful of sugar has been stirred.
Spread on top and put in oven to brown.
Flavor pie to taste with Virot's flavoring.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
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
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| Water | 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.
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and egg 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
- Currants (in the method)
- Provide the fruit flavor and the bulk of the pie filling.
- Eggs
- Yolks thicken the filling, and beaten whites form the frosting that browns on top.
- Cornstarch
- Thickens the paste so the filling sets into a smooth, sliceable texture.
- Flour (in the method)
- Adds additional thickening to the filling.
- Sugar (in the method)
- Sweetens the filling and helps the meringue-style topping brown.
The step that matters
Boil the cornstarch paste well. Cornstarch only thickens fully once it has been brought to a boil, and undercooked starch leaves a thin, runny filling that will not hold its shape.
“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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