Why it works: Lemon and sugar 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 ↓
Lemon Pie
Ingredients
Directions
Make the filling
In a saucepan, combine lemon rind, lemon juice, 1 cup sugar, and 1 cup water.
Dissolve cornstarch in a little water, then add to the saucepan and cook until thick.
Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
Beat the eggs and stir them into the mixture.
Bake and finish
Pour the filling into a pie crust and bake until set.
For the frosting, beat the reserved egg whites until stiff, then gradually add ½ cup sugar.
Spread the frosting over the pie and brown lightly in the 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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Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Lemon + eggtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together44,316 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Lemon and sugar 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
- Eggs
- Thicken the filling as they set and enrich its texture.
- Cornstarch
- Thickens the lemon mixture as it cooks until it becomes firm and sliceable.
- Egg whites
- Whipped with sugar to form a stable, glossy meringue topping.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and, in the frosting, stabilises the whipped whites.
The step that matters
Adding the eggs to the hot filling. If the mixture is too hot when the beaten eggs go in, they can scramble and leave lumps. Letting it cool slightly first helps the eggs blend smoothly and set evenly.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
- Datesfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against 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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