Name: Rhubarb Pie
Ingredients: 4 cups rhubarb, cut into ½ inch pieces; 1 large teacup (about 1 cup) sugar; ¼ teaspoon coarse sea salt; a little grated nutmeg; a little flour for dusting; 1 pie crust, rolled thicker than a dollar piece; 1 rich pie crust for covering

Why it works: Rhubarb and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 177 recipes. Both carry acetic acid, which smells sour, vinegar. The science ↓

Rhubarb Pie

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

4 cups rhubarb, cut into ½ inch pieces
1 large teacup (about 1 cup) sugar
¼ teaspoon coarse sea salt
a little grated nutmeg
a little flour for dusting
1 pie crust, rolled thicker than a dollar piece
1 rich pie crust for covering

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Line a pie dish with the thicker pie crust.
Layer the rhubarb in the dish, nearly 1 inch deep.
Sprinkle the sugar, salt, nutmeg, and a little flour over the rhubarb.

Assemble and bake

Cover with the rich pie crust and cut a slit in the center.
Trim the edges with a sharp knife and bake until the pie loosens from the dish.

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.

Rhubarb + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together177 recipes

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

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together670 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Nutmeg + flourtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,623 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Rhubarb + sugartop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,852 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).