Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Macaroon 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 custard
In a double boiler, combine cream or milk, flour, vanilla, butter, and brown sugar, and cook until thick.
Let the mixture cool, then fold in ½ cup of macaroons.
Pour the mixture into a pre-baked pie crust.
Sprinkle the remaining macaroons on top.
Top and bake
Make meringue by beating egg whites until stiff, then gradually add sugar.
Spread meringue over the pie and brown 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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Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Vanilla + sugartop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + vanillatop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,241 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Vanilla and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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
- Cream or milk
- Provides the liquid base that thickens into a rich, smooth custard.
- Flour
- Thickens the custard as it cooks, giving it body and a sliceable texture.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a smooth, tender mouthfeel in the filling.
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and molasses flavour, and helps the filling stay moist.
- Egg whites
- Whipped into a foam that forms the meringue topping and sets as it bakes.
- Macaroons
- Add chewy texture and an almond-sweet flavour to the custard and topping.
The step that matters
Beating the egg whites until stiff. Egg whites must be whipped until they hold firm peaks, and sugar must be added gradually so the foam stays stable. Under-whipped or greasy whites will weep or collapse in the oven, leaving a soggy meringue.
Swap the vanilla
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, flour, butter, sugar, egg):
- Vanillathe original
- Raisinfits about as well
- Coconutfits less well
- Figfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against cream, flour, butter, sugar, egg. 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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