Why it works: Lemon and milk 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 ↓
Lemon Pie
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the filling
Grate the rind of the lemons and juice them.
In a bowl, combine the lemon juice, grated rind, sugar, and milk.
Beat in the yolks of the eggs.
Make a thin paste with the cornstarch and add it to the mixture.
Bake and top
Line two deep pie pans with pie crust and bake at 350°F (175°C) until done.
Whip the egg whites to a stiff froth, adding a little sugar.
Remove the pie from the oven, top with the whipped egg whites, and return to the oven for 1 minute or until browned.
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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Lemon + milktop 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
- Eggs
- Yolks thicken the filling and enrich it, while whites whip into the topping that sets and browns.
- Cornstarch
- Starch thickens the liquid filling so it holds a sliceable set when cooled.
- Lemons
- Juice supplies sharp acidity and rind adds fragrant lemon aroma to the filling.
- Milk
- Adds liquid and richness, forming the body of the custard filling.
- Granulated sugar
- Sweetens the filling and helps stabilise the whipped egg white topping.
The step that matters
Return the pie to the oven for the meringue topping. Meringue made from whipped whites can weep or shrink if overbaked, and it needs only a brief browning. Watch it closely, since one minute is short and the topping can turn from golden to dark quickly.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, milk):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits about as well
- Raisinfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, 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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