Name: Rhubarb Pie
Ingredients: 1 cup sugar; 1 cup chopped rhubarb; ½ cup seeded raisins; 1 egg; 1 heaping tablespoon flour

Why it works: Raisin and flour match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,075 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Rhubarb Pie

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the filling

Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
In a bowl, combine sugar, chopped rhubarb, seeded raisins, egg, and flour, and mix until well combined.

Assemble and bake

Prepare a pie crust and fill it with the rhubarb mixture.
Cover with a second crust and seal the edges.
Bake until the crust is golden brown.

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.

Raisin + flourtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,075 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Rhubarb + flourtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together670 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Rhubarb + raisintop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together47 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,481 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

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

What each ingredient does

Sugar: Adds sweetness to balance the tart rhubarb.
Chopped rhubarb: Provides the main tart flavor and moisture for the filling.
Seeded raisins: Adds sweetness and a chewy texture to the filling.
Egg: Binds the filling and helps it set as it bakes.
Flour: Thickens the juices released by the rhubarb.