Why it works: Cheese and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,655 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Pumpkin 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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Prepare the pie crust and place it in a pie dish.
Make and bake the filling
In a bowl, mix the pumpkin puree and grated cheese until well combined.
Pour the mixture into the pie crust.
Bake for 45 minutes or until set.
Cool and serve
Let cool, then top with whipped cream before serving.
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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Cheese + creamtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,655 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Pumpkin + cheesetop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together280 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity).
-
Pumpkin + creamtop 28% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together687 recipes
Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Pumpkin puree
- Provides the main body and moisture of the filling.
- Grated cheese
- Adds savory flavor and helps the filling thicken as it bakes.
- Pie crust
- Holds the filling in shape while it bakes.
The step that matters
Bake until set. Baking until the filling is set lets the proteins firm up so the pie slices cleanly. Underbaking leaves a runny center, while overbaking can cause cracks and a dry texture.
Swap the pumpkin
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cheese, cream):
- Strawberryfits better
- Applefits better
- Raspberryfits better
- Pumpkinthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against cheese, 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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