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Dessert

Fruit Pie

A fruit pie made with preserves, almonds, candied lemon peel, sugar, butter, eggs, and almond essence.

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 ↓

Fruit Pie

Oven, in the book's wordsA warm oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a warm oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Line a pie dish with the pie crust.

  2. Spread the preserves evenly over the crust.

  3. Sprinkle the chopped almonds and candied lemon peel on top.

Make the filling

  1. In a bowl, mix the sugar, melted butter, egg yolks, egg whites, and almond essence until well combined.

  2. Pour the mixture over the preserves and toppings in the pie dish.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until set.

  2. Allow to cool, then dust with powdered sugar before serving.

  3. Serve with a little cream for added flavor.

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. Strawberry + almondtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together433 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

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

  4. Almond + lemontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Almond + buttertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,245 recipes

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

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Egg yolks and whites bind the filling and set it into a sliceable custard.
Butter
Melted butter adds richness and a tender texture to the filling.
Granulated sugar
Sugar sweetens the filling and helps it brown lightly as it bakes.
Strawberry or raspberry preserves
Preserves form a sweet, fruity layer beneath the filling.
Blanched almonds
Chopped almonds add nutty flavor and a slight crunch to the pie.

The step that matters

Baking until set. Underbaking leaves the egg-based filling runny and it will not slice cleanly. Overbaking can make the egg mixture curdle, dry out, or toughen, so check for a firm centre and let it cool before cutting.

Swap the lemon

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raspberryfits better
  3. Peachfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

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