Why it works: Rhubarb and flour match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 670 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Ehubarb 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
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Mix sugar and flour together in a bowl.
Add egg yolks to the sugar mixture and stir in the rhubarb.
Pour the mixture into a pie crust.
Top and bake
Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form to make meringue.
Spread the meringue over the pie filling.
Bake until the meringue is golden brown.
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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Rhubarb + flourtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together670 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Rhubarb + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,852 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Egg and flour 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
- Rhubarb
- Provides the tart flavour and the bulk of the pie filling.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and balances the tartness of the rhubarb.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the filling as they set and add richness.
- Egg whites
- Whipped into stiff peaks to form the meringue topping, which browns in the oven.
- Flour
- Lightly thickens the filling so it holds its shape when cut.
The step that matters
Beating the egg whites to stiff peaks. Under-beaten whites will weep and fail to hold the meringue's shape, while over-beaten whites turn grainy and dry. Stiff peaks trap air that sets and browns over the filling.
Swap the rhubarb
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, flour):
- Jalapenofits better
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Rhubarbthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, 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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