Name: Rhubarb Pie
Ingredients: Rhubarb, peeled and cut into short lengths; Sugar, to taste; Coarse sea salt, a small pinch; Grated lemon peel, optional; Ground ginger, optional; Nutmeg, grated, optional; Pastry for pie crust; Cold water, 1-2 tablespoons; White sugar, for sprinkling

Why it works: Lemon and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,154 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Rhubarb Pie

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Peel the rhubarb and cut it into short lengths.
Fill a pie dish with the rhubarb, sprinkle sugar over it, and add a pinch of salt.
If desired, mix in grated lemon peel, ground ginger, or nutmeg.

Assemble and bake

Line the edges of the dish with pastry and moisten with water.
Cover the pie with pastry, pressing the edges together and decorating them.
Sprinkle 1-2 tablespoons of cold water over the pie and dredge with white sugar.
Bake until the pastry loosens from the dish, about 30 minutes to 1 hour.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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.

Lemon + gingertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,154 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Ginger + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,324 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together11,318 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Rhubarb + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together177 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Rhubarb + gingertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together241 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Rhubarb: Provides the tart flavor that the sugar balances and forms the filling's body as it cooks.
Sugar: Sweetens the tart rhubarb and helps draw out its juices during baking.
Pastry: Forms the crust that encloses the filling and browns in the oven.