Why it works: Lemon and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,053 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Lemon Pie
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the filling
Mix cornstarch with a little milk.
Heat the remaining milk until boiling, then stir in the cornstarch mixture and boil for 1 minute.
Let the mixture cool, then add the egg yolks, 4 tablespoons of sugar, and the grated lemon rind and juice. Mix well.
Assemble and bake
Line a deep pie plate with pastry and fill it with the lemon mixture.
Bake in a 300°F (150°C) oven for 30 minutes.
Top and brown
Beat the egg whites until stiff, gradually adding the remaining sugar.
Spread the meringue over the pie and brown slowly.
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 + milktop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 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
- Eggs
- Yolks thicken the custard and enrich it; whites whip into the meringue topping.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and helps the meringue whip stiff and hold its shape.
- Cornstarch
- Thickens the milk mixture into a sliceable filling as it heats and boils.
- Lemon
- Juice supplies acidity and rind adds bright aroma to the filling.
- Milk
- Provides the liquid base that the cornstarch thickens into the custard.
The step that matters
Boil the cornstarch mixture for a full minute. Cornstarch only reaches full thickening power once the mixture boils, and boiling briefly ensures the starch swells and sets the filling properly.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, milk):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits about as well
- Raisinfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, milk. 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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