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Dessert

Rhubarb Pie

A pie with a filling of chopped rhubarb, raisins, sugar, flour, eggs, and lemon rind and juice.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Rhubarb Pie

Why it works: Flour and raisin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,075 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Rhubarb Pie

Ingredients

Directions

Make the filling

  1. In a large bowl, combine 1 cupful of sugar, 1 cupful chopped rhubarb, 2 cupfuls seeded raisins, 1 egg, 1 heaping tablespoonful of flour, 1/2 pint of water, and 2 tablespoonfuls flour with 2 eggs (yolks). Mix well.

  2. Stir in the grated rind and juice of 1 lemon.

Assemble and bake

  1. Place the filling between two crusts and bake until the crust is browned.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

656Calories
20 gProtein
7 gFat
128 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
Grape1/2 cup (76g)62
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Waternot in our table0
Rhubarbnot 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 Johnson, Vt. Congregational 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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Flour + rhubarbtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together670 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Rhubarb + lemontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together546 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  4. Rhubarb + raisintop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together47 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,481 recipes

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

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Rhubarb
Provides the tart flavour that gives the pie its character.
Flour
Thickens the filling as it bakes so it holds together when sliced.
Eggs
Add richness and help bind and thicken the filling as it sets.
Sugar
Sweetens the filling and balances the tartness of the rhubarb.
Seeded raisins
Add chewy sweetness and body to the filling.

Swap the lemon

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

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

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