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Dessert

Lemon Pie

A lemon custard pie with a browned meringue topping.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Corn and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,927 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Lemon Pie

Ingredients

Directions

Make the filling

  1. Dissolve corn starch in a little cold water and stir into boiling water.

  2. Cream the butter and sugar together, then pour over the hot mixture.

  3. Cool the mixture, then add lemon juice, lemon rind, and beaten egg yolks.

Bake and brown

  1. Bake the mixture until set.

  2. Spread beaten egg whites on top and return to the oven to brown.

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.

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. Corn + lemontop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,927 recipes

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

  2. Corn + buttertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,345 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

  3. Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,227 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  4. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Corn starch
Thickens the boiling water into a set, sliceable filling.
Egg yolks
Enrich the filling and help it set as it bakes.
Egg whites
Form a light topping that browns in the oven.
Sugar
Sweetens the filling and balances the lemon's tartness.
Lemon juice and rind
Provide the sharp, aromatic lemon flavor and acidity.

The step that matters

Spread beaten egg whites on top and return to the oven to brown. Egg whites must be fully beaten and spread over the filling so they seal the surface. Browning depends on the oven heat reaching the meringue-style topping, so watch it closely to avoid over-browning.

Swap the lemon

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against corn, butter, 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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