Why it works: Lemon and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,950 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Lemon Pie
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the crust
Roll out the pastry and line a pie dish with it.
Decorate the edges with leaves of pastry.
Make the filling
Beat the egg yolks together.
Mix the cornflour, sugar, cinnamon, grated lemon rinds, and lemon juice.
Blend with a little cold water or milk.
Pour boiling milk over the mixture, add butter and the egg yolks, and stir well.
Pour the mixture into the lined dish and bake in a slow oven at 300°F (150°C) until the pastry is cooked.
Top and finish
Whisk the egg whites until stiff, then fold in 2 tablespoons of castor sugar.
Spread the meringue on top of the pie. It is ready when set and tinged a 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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Lemon + cinnamontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,950 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Cinnamon + buttertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,784 recipes
Shared aroma: anethole (sweet, anise).
Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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 thicken the filling while whites whip into the meringue topping.
- Cornflour
- Starch thickens the lemon filling so it cuts cleanly when set.
- Lemons
- Juice and rind give the filling its sharp, aromatic acidity.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth, tender mouthfeel to the filling.
- Castor sugar
- Sweetens the filling and dissolves into the whipped egg whites for a stable meringue.
The step that matters
Whisking and setting the meringue. Egg whites must be whipped until stiff and then baked gently; under-whipped or overbaked meringue weeps or toughens. Sugar stabilises the foam, and the topping should be sealed to the crust edge to prevent shrinking.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, cinnamon, cream, butter):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, cinnamon, cream, butter. 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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