Why it works: Butter and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,227 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓
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.
Make the lemon filling
Grate the rind of the lemon into the water.
Add the juice of the lemon and bring to a boil.
Dissolve the cornstarch in a little water and add it to the mixture, stirring until it thickens.
Remove from heat and beat together the egg yolks, sugar, butter, lemon juice, and salt.
Combine this mixture with the thickened lemon mixture and bring to a boil again.
Assemble and bake
Pre-bake a large pie crust and fill it with the lemon mixture.
Beat the egg whites with 2 tablespoons of sugar until stiff peaks form and spread over the pie.
Brown the meringue slightly in a 350°F (175°C) oven.
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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Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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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 + 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 enrich it with richness and a custard-like texture.
- Cornstarch
- Thickens the lemon mixture as it heats, giving the filling a sliceable body.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and balances the sourness of the lemon juice.
- Lemon
- Provides acidity and aroma from both the juice and the grated rind.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a smoother, richer mouthfeel in the filling.
The step that matters
Bringing the cornstarch mixture to a boil. Cornstarch only thickens fully once it reaches a boil and stays there briefly. Stopping early leaves the filling thin, while stirring constantly prevents lumps and scorching on the bottom of the pan.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, butter):
- Vanillafits better
- Lemonthe original
- Raisinfits about as well
- Figfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, butter. 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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