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Dessert

Orange Pie

A custard pie made with orange juice, peel, and a meringue topping.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 118,967 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓

Orange Pie

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

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.

Make the custard

  1. Cream together the butter and sugar in a bowl.

  2. Blend the cornstarch with a little cold water, then stir it into the boiling water in a saucepan.

  3. Stir for 1-2 minutes, then add the butter, sugar, grated orange peel, and orange juice.

  4. Remove from heat and stir in the egg mixed with a few drops of cold water.

Bake the crust and custard

  1. Line a deep pie dish with Flaky Pie-Crust and bake until firm and slightly browned.

  2. Pour the custard into the baked crust and return to the oven for 10-12 minutes, until the egg sets.

Top with meringue

  1. Beat the egg whites until foamy, then gradually add the powdered sugar and beat until stiff and glossy.

  2. Spread the meringue over the pie, sprinkle lightly with granulated sugar, and bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for about 2 minutes until slightly browned.

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. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  2. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Sugar + orangetop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together19,212 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Butter + orangetop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,301 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

Sugar and orange barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 19,212 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
Egg yolk thickens the custard as it sets, giving the filling body and a sliceable texture.
Cornstarch
Starch swells in boiling water and thickens the custard into a smooth, glossy filling.
Egg whites
Whipped into foam and sugared, they form the stable, airy meringue topping.
Sugar
Sweetens the filling and, dissolved into the meringue, helps it stay glossy and stiff.
Orange juice
Adds acidity and bright citrus flavor to the custard.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smoother mouthfeel in the custard.

The step that matters

Stirring the egg into the hot custard. Egg proteins set at around 160°F to 180°F and can scramble if added to very hot liquid without enough stirring. Mixing the egg with cold water first and stirring off the heat helps it blend in smoothly.

Swap the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, egg):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Lemonfits better
  3. Raisinfits better
  4. Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, 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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