Name: Rhubarb Pie
Ingredients: Rhubarb stalks; Butter; Sugar; Lemon peel (optional); Cinnamon (optional); Nutmeg (optional); Pie crust

Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Rhubarb Pie

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Skin the rhubarb stalks and cut them into small pieces.
Wash the pieces and place them in a stew pan with just enough water to cover them.
Cook until soft, then mash the rhubarb finely and mix in a small piece of butter.
Let the mixture cool, then sweeten to taste and add lemon peel, cinnamon, or nutmeg if desired.
Line a pie pan with thin crust, fill it with the rhubarb mixture, and cover with another layer of crust.
Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven until golden brown.
Sift sugar over the pie when serving.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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.

Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together11,917 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Rhubarb + cinnamontop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together279 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together11,318 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Rhubarb + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together177 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Lemon + cinnamontop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together7,950 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

Swap the lemon

The recipe marks lemon as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rhubarb, butter, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg):

Vanillafits better
Raisinfits better
Figfits about as well
Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rhubarb, butter, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.