Why it works: Flour and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 92,116 recipes. Both carry phenylacetaldehyde, which smells hawthorne, honey. The science ↓
Lemon Pie
3 pie tinsIngredients
Directions
Make the filling
Mix the grated rind and juice of the lemons with flour and cold water to form a smooth paste.
Pour this mixture into 2 cups of boiling water and stir until smooth over heat.
Move the mixture to a cool part of the stove and add the beaten eggs and sugar.
Let the mixture cool, then add the lemon rind and juice.
Bake the pies
Line 3 pie tins with pastry and fill with the lemon mixture.
Bake the pies until set.
Top with meringue
For the meringue, beat the egg white with 1 tablespoon of fine sugar until light.
Spread the meringue over each pie and return to the oven for a few minutes until slightly 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.
-
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
-
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Lemon + flourtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,404 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Lemon + eggtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together44,316 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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
- Thicken the filling as they set with heat, giving it body and structure.
- Flour
- Thickens the lemon mixture so it holds together when cut.
- Lemon juice
- Adds the sharp acidity that balances the sweetness of the filling.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and balances the sharpness of the lemon.
- Egg white
- Whipped with sugar to form the light, foamy meringue topping.
The step that matters
Cooling the filling before adding the lemon. Adding lemon juice and rind to a mixture that is still hot can cause the egg-thickened filling to curdle or thin out. Letting it cool first helps it set smoothly.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, egg, sugar):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Lemonthe original
- Figfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, egg, sugar. 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.
You might also like
Lemon Cake228 recipes
Lemon Ice147 recipes
Lemon Sherbet103 recipes
Lemon Custard64 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.