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Pie Crust

A simple pie crust made with flour, lard, salt, and cold water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Why it works: Flour and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Pie Crust

Ingredients

Directions

Make the crust

  1. Cut the lard into the flour and salt with a knife.

  2. Add the water gradually, lifting with a knife, moisten one portion first and push it to one side of the bowl, wet another portion and continue until all is moistened, using just enough water to hold together.

  3. Put together and place on a floured board.

  4. Roll the crust to fit the pan.

  5. Press the crust firmly into the bottom of the pan.

  6. Prick the sides and bottom with a fork.

  7. Crinkle the edges of the crust; have the crust extend above the edge of the pan to make a deep shell for the filling.

  8. Bake the crust first to make it more crisp. Do not butter the pan. Bake from five to six minutes in a hot oven.

Finish with meringue

  1. When the crust is done, add the filling and cover this with the meringue.

  2. Do not beat the egg-whites until ready for use. Then beat until stiff and add the sugar and extract, beating only a minute.

  3. Pile the meringue lightly on top of the filling, and bake the whole slowly. If baked too quickly, the meringue will rise and then fall. Bake only until it turns a golden brown.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

1536Calories
60 gProtein
73 gFat
159 gCarbs

Counts 13 of 20 ingredients. The other 7 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 13 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Pork100g cooked242
Potato1 medium (173g) baked161
Chocolate1 oz (28g) semisweet155
Vegetable1 tbsp (14g)120
Lard1 tbsp (12.8g)115
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Gelatin1 envelope (7g)23
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0
Vealnot in our table0
Saucenot in our table0
Cakenot in our table0
Icingnot in our table0
Teanot in our table0
Pimentonot 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 Louise Bennett Weaver and Helen Cowles LeCron. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Lemon + potatotop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,230 recipes

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

  3. Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,456 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Sugar + saucetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,147 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Sauce + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together15,338 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

Lard
Coats flour particles so the crust stays tender and flaky rather than tough.
Flour
Forms the structure of the crust once moistened and rolled.
Egg whites
Whipped to stiff foam that forms the light, airy meringue topping.
Sugar
Sweetens the meringue and stabilises the whipped egg white foam.

The step that matters

Bake the meringue slowly and only until golden. Meringue baked too quickly rises fast and then collapses as the air expands and the proteins over-set. Slow baking sets it gently and browns it evenly.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, egg, sugar, lemon, veal, sauce, butter):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Arrowrootfits better
  3. Asparagusfits better
  4. Potatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, egg, sugar, lemon, veal, sauce, butter. 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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