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Buttermilk Pies

A custard pie made with buttermilk, sugar, flour, and topped with a meringue.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Buttermilk Pies

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.

Make the custard

  1. In a saucepan, combine buttermilk, cream of tartar, sugar, flour, and butter.

  2. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens into a custard.

  3. Pour the custard into pie crusts and bake at 350°F (175°C) until set.

Make the meringue and finish

  1. For the meringue, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form, then gradually add sugar until thick and stiff.

  2. Spread the meringue over the pies and bake for a few minutes until golden brown.

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.

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.

  1. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Buttermilk + flourtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,721 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Buttermilk + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,973 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  5. Buttermilk + creamtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together674 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Buttermilk
Provides tangy acidity and moisture that gives the filling its rich, soft body.
Eggs
Egg whites form the meringue topping, and the eggs help set the custard filling.
Sugar
Sweetens the filling and, when beaten with egg whites, stabilises the meringue.
Flour
Thickens the custard so it sets into a sliceable filling rather than staying liquid.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smooth, tender texture in the filling.

The step that matters

Cooking the custard until it thickens. Flour starch thickens only when the mixture is heated enough while stirred constantly. Stopping early leaves a runny filling, and letting it scorch on the bottom of the pan can add a burnt taste.

“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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