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
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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the filling
In a bowl, mix the sugar, eggs, and butter until smooth.
Juice the lemon and add it to the mixture.
In a separate bowl, mix the corn starch with a little cold water until smooth.
Add the corn starch mixture to the boiling water, stirring constantly until thickened.
Combine the thickened mixture with the lemon mixture and pour into a pie crust.
Bake
Bake for about 30 minutes or until set.
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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Butter + corntop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,345 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
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Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Set and thicken the filling as they cook, giving it structure.
- Corn starch
- Thickens the boiling water into a smooth mixture that gives the filling body.
- Lemon
- Provides the tart acidity that balances the sweetness of the sugar.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and balances the lemon's acidity.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smoother, silkier mouthfeel to the filling.
The step that matters
Thickening the corn starch mixture. Corn starch only thickens fully when it is heated to a boil while stirred, and it must be whisked smooth first to avoid lumps. Stirring constantly keeps heat even so the starch gelatinizes evenly before the mixture is combined with the egg and lemon filling.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, butter, corn):
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits better
- Figfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, butter, corn. 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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