Why it works: Flour and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Delicious Lemon Pie
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Make the custard
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, mix the lemon juice, grated rind, sugar, egg yolks, flour, and milk until smooth.
Line a pie plate with pastry and pour the custard mixture into it.
Bake until set, about 25-30 minutes.
Make the meringue and finish
In another bowl, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form, then gradually add the sugar and beat until stiff peaks form.
Spread the meringue over the pie and return to the oven until lightly browned.
Cool before serving.
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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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Lemon + milktop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Lemon + flourtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,404 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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 custard and add richness as they set with the flour.
- Flour
- Stabilizes the lemon custard so it sets firm rather than runny when baked.
- Egg whites
- Whipped into a foam that forms the light, airy meringue topping.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the custard and, when beaten with egg whites, stabilizes the meringue.
- Lemon
- Provides the acidity and aroma that balance the sweetness of the filling.
The step that matters
Beat the meringue to stiff peaks before spreading. Sugar added gradually to whipped egg whites dissolves and stabilizes the foam. Under-beaten whites will weep or collapse in the oven, while the meringue must be spread over the hot custard to seal the edges and avoid shrinking.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, flour, milk):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, flour, 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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