Why it works: Lemon and corn are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,927 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Lemon Pie
Ingredients
Directions
Make the filling
Mix the lemon juice and rind, sugar, water, corn starch (or flour), and beaten egg yolks in a basin over water.
Cook the mixture until thickened.
Line a pie plate with the pie crust and pour the lemon mixture into it.
Bake and top
Bake until the crust is done.
Whip the egg whites to stiff peaks, adding 2 tablespoons of sugar.
Spread the whipped egg whites over the pie and brown 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 + corntop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,927 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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Lemon + eggtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together44,316 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + corntop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together7,168 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the lemon filling and add richness as they set with heat.
- Corn starch or flour
- Thickens the lemon mixture as it cooks, giving it a body that holds its shape.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling to balance the sharpness of the lemon juice.
- Lemon juice and rind
- Provide the tart, aromatic lemon flavour that defines the pie.
- Egg whites
- Whipped into a meringue that forms a light topping and browns in the oven.
The step that matters
Cook the mixture until thickened. Starch needs to reach a boil to thicken fully; if the filling is undercooked it stays runny and will not set when cooled. Cooking over water with the egg yolks also needs gentle heat so the yolks thicken without scrambling.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, corn, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits about as well
- Raisinfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, corn, egg. 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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