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Dessert

Lemon Pie

A lemon custard pie topped with meringue.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and cream 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 ↓

Lemon Pie

enough for 2 ordinary-sized pies

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

  1. Squeeze the juice of the lemons.

  2. Grate the rind of one lemon.

  3. In a bowl, stir together the yolks of 3 eggs, the white of 1 egg, 8 tablespoons of sugar, melted butter, lemon juice, and lemon rind.

  4. Add 1 cup of sweet cream or milk.

  5. Beat the mixture for 1-2 minutes.

Bake the pie

  1. Line a pie plate with pastry.

  2. Pour the mixture into it, enough for 2 ordinary-sized pies.

  3. Bake until the pastry is done at 350°F (175°C).

Make the meringue and finish

  1. Beat the remaining egg whites to a stiff froth.

  2. Gradually stir in 4 tablespoons of sugar.

  3. Remove the pies from the oven.

  4. Spread the meringue evenly on top.

  5. Return the pies to the oven.

  6. Bake until the meringue is a delicate brown, ensuring the oven is not too hot.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  3. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  5. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
Yolks and white thicken the filling and help it set when baked.
Butter
Adds richness and tenderness to the filling and the pastry.
Sugar
Sweetens the filling and helps stabilise the meringue.
Lemons
Juice and rind provide the sharp, aromatic lemon flavour that balances the sweetness.
Sweet cream or milk
Adds moisture and softness to the filling.

The step that matters

Bake the meringue gently. Egg white meringue browns and can weep or toughen if the oven is too hot. A moderate oven sets the foam and gives a delicate, even brown without overcooking the filling beneath.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, butter, sugar, cream, flour):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Coconutfits about as well
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, butter, sugar, cream, flour. 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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