Why it works: Sugar and flour 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 ↓
Pie Plant 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.
Prepare the filling
Combine the stewed pie plant, sugar, flour, and egg yolk in a bowl.
Mix thoroughly, ensuring the pie plant is not too hot to avoid cooking the egg.
Bake and finish
Pour the mixture into the pie crust.
Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven until set.
Whip the egg white and use it as frosting on top of the pie.
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 + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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
- Stewed pie plant
- Provides the tart flavor and most of the filling's bulk and moisture.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and balances the tartness of the pie plant.
- Flour
- Thickens the filling so it sets rather than running when baked.
- Egg yolk
- Helps bind and set the filling as it bakes.
- Egg white
- Whipped to make a light frosting that browns on top of the pie.
The step that matters
Keep the pie plant cool before mixing in the egg yolk. If the stewed pie plant is too hot, it can partly cook the raw egg yolk and cause lumps or uneven setting. Letting it cool slightly first keeps the filling smooth and lets it bake evenly.
“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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