Why it works: Sugar and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 53,532 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Cracker 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.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, combine the cracker crumbs, boiling water, sugar, lemon juice, and lemon rind. Mix well until combined.
Assemble and bake
Pour the mixture into a pie crust and cover with the second crust.
Seal the edges and cut slits in the top crust for steam to escape.
Bake for 30-40 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.
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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Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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
- Cracker crumbs
- Absorb the boiling water and thicken the filling into a set, custard-like body.
- Sugar
- Provides sweetness and helps thicken the filling as it dissolves in the liquid.
- Lemon
- Adds acidity and aroma that brighten the sweet filling.
The step that matters
Cut slits in the top crust. Steam builds up inside the sealed pie as it bakes. Slits let it escape so the top crust does not puff, crack unevenly, or make the filling wet and loose.
“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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