Why it works: Lemon and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,227 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓
Lemon 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 the filling
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Grate the rind of the lemon.
Juice the lemon.
In a bowl, mix the lemon juice, grated rind, egg yolks, sugar, cold water, and butter until well combined.
Pour the mixture into a pie crust.
Bake and top
Bake the pie until set, about 25-30 minutes.
Beat the egg whites until soft peaks form.
Gradually add powdered sugar to the egg whites and continue beating until stiff peaks form.
Spread the meringue over the baked pie.
Brown the meringue slightly in the oven.
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 + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Lemon + eggtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together44,316 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
Lemon and sugar 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
- Lemon
- Provides the sharp acidity and aroma that balance the sweetness of the filling.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the filling as they set during baking, giving it a custard-like body.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and helps balance the tartness of the lemon.
- Egg whites
- Whip into a foam that forms the airy, stable structure of the meringue topping.
- Powdered sugar
- Dissolves into the whipped whites to stabilise the meringue and give it a glossy finish.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth texture to the filling.
The step that matters
Beating the egg whites to stiff peaks. Gradually adding sugar while beating builds a stable foam. Under-beaten whites weep or collapse, and over-beaten whites turn grainy and dry. Spreading the meringue onto the pie only after it is baked also prevents it from sliding or sinking into the filling.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, butter):
- Vanillafits better
- Lemonthe original
- Raisinfits about as well
- Figfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, 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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