Why it works: Milk and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,053 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Lemok Pie
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the filling
Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).
Beat 4 egg yolks with 2 cups of sugar and salt in a bowl.
Dissolve 2 tablespoons of cornstarch in 1 cup of sweet milk and add to the mixture. Stir in the juice and rind of 2 lemons.
Pour the mixture into a pie crust and bake slowly until set.
Make the meringue and finish
Beat the 4 egg whites until soft peaks form for the meringue. Gradually add 6 tablespoons of powdered sugar and beat until stiff peaks form.
Spread the meringue over the pie and bake until light brown.
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.
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Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + lemontop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together44,316 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the filling and add richness and color to the custard.
- Cornstarch
- Thickens the lemon mixture so it sets into a sliceable filling.
- Lemons
- Provide the acidity and bright flavor that balance the sweetness.
- Egg whites
- Whip into a foam that forms the light, airy meringue topping.
- Powdered sugar
- Dissolves easily into the whites, stabilizing the meringue for a smooth, stiff peak.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and helps stabilize the egg yolk custard.
The step that matters
Spread the meringue over the pie. Meringue must be spread so it touches the crust edge all around; otherwise it can shrink and weep while baking.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, milk):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits about as well
- Raisinfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, milk. 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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