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Dessert

Vinegar Pie

A pie filling of vinegar, sugar, flour, butter, and eggs, baked in a crust and topped with beaten egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Hamilton, Ohio. First Methodist Episcopal church. [from old catalog] · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 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 ↓

Vinegar Pie

Ingredients

Directions

Make the filling

  1. Place water, butter, sugar, and vinegar in pan and let come to boiling point.

  2. Stir in flour (first mixed with a little water).

  3. Let cook until thick.

  4. Let this cool.

  5. Stir in the beaten yolks of eggs and flavoring.

Bake and serve

  1. Pour mixture into an open crust and bake.

  2. When done, spread the stiffly beaten whites of the eggs over the top.

  3. Return to oven and brown.

  4. This mixture, spiced and baked with two crusts, makes an excellent pie.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

597Calories
20 gProtein
7 gFat
112 gCarbs

Counts 5 of 6 ingredients. The other 1 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
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Waternot 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 Hamilton, Ohio. First Methodist Episcopal church. [from old catalog]. 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. Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

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

  3. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + lemontop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30,404 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, 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

Flour
Thickens the filling as it cooks, giving it a set, spoonable body.
Eggs
Yolks enrich and thicken the filling; whites are beaten and browned on top for structure and color.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and balances the sharpness of the vinegar.
Strong vinegar
Provides the sharp acidity that defines the pie's tangy flavor.
Butter (in the method)
Adds richness and fat to the filling for a smoother mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Let the filling cook until thick, then cool before adding the yolks. Flour thickens only when the mixture is cooked enough to gelatinize its starch. Adding beaten yolks to a very hot mixture can scramble them, so cooling first keeps the filling smooth and evenly set.

Swap the lemon

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, sugar, flour, egg. 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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