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Lemon Meringue Pie

A pie with a lemon custard filling topped with meringue.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Gelatin and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,778 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Lemon Meringue Pie

Ingredients

Directions

Make the lemon filling

  1. Dissolve gelatin in cold water.

  2. In a saucepan, combine sugar, egg yolks, lemon juice, and rind.

  3. Cook over low heat until thickened, stirring constantly.

  4. Remove from heat and stir in dissolved gelatin.

  5. Let mixture cool until slightly thickened.

Add meringue and set

  1. Whip egg whites until stiff peaks form.

  2. Fold whipped egg whites into the lemon mixture.

  3. Pour into a pie crust and refrigerate until set.

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. Gelatin + sugartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,778 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together53,532 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Egg + lemontop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together44,316 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

  4. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Gelatin + lemontop 27% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,215 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-pinene (pine, resin).

Sugar and lemon 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

Gelatin
Sets the lemon filling so it holds its shape when chilled.
Egg yolks
Thicken the lemon filling as they cook and add richness.
Egg whites
Whipped into stiff peaks to give the filling a light, airy texture.
Sugar
Sweetens the filling and balances the sharpness of the lemon.
Lemon
Provides acidity and aroma from the juice and rind.

The step that matters

Cook over low heat until thickened, stirring constantly. Egg yolks can curdle if overheated or left unstirred. Gentle, constant stirring cooks them evenly into a smooth, thickened custard.

Swap the lemon

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against gelatin, 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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