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Dessert

Lemon Pie Without Eggs or Milk

A lemon pie made with sugar, corn starch, butter, lemon juice, grated rind, and two crusts.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Evora Bucknum Perkins · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 53,532 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Lemon Pie Without Eggs or Milk

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Mix sugar and corn starch in double boiler, pour boiling water over and cook until thick, add butter and beat, then add lemon juice and grated rind.

  2. Two crusts.

  3. Pare 1 lemon thick enough to remove all the white part, cut in thin slices and remove the seeds.

  4. Add 1 egg and ¾ cup of sugar, beat well and turn on gradually 1 cup of cold water.

  5. Two crusts.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

139Calories
7 gProtein
5 gFat
17 gCarbs

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
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
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 Evora Bucknum Perkins. 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. Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together53,532 recipes

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

  2. Lemon + eggtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together44,316 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

  3. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

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

Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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

Sugar
Sweetens the filling and helps balance the sharp lemon flavour.
Corn starch (in the method)
Thickens the filling as it cooks with the hot water.
Egg
Adds richness and helps bind the filling.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity and bright lemon flavour.
Lemon
Adds aroma and flavour from the rind and slices.

The step that matters

Cook the starch mixture until thick. Cornstarch only thickens fully when it is heated with liquid until it boils, and it can form lumps if the boiling water is not stirred in well. Cooking it until thick ensures the filling sets properly.

Swap the lemon

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, 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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