Why it works: Lemon and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,053 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Lemoit Pie
Ingredients
Directions
Make the filling
Grate the yellow rind from the lemons and squeeze the juice.
In a bowl, combine the grated peel, beaten egg yolks, sugar, and milk.
Pour the mixture into a pie crust and bake until set.
Make and add the meringue
In another bowl, beat the egg whites to a stiff froth.
Gradually add the powdered sugar and lemon juice to the egg whites.
Spread the meringue over the pie when it is nearly cold.
Brown the meringue slightly 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 + milktop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 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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Egg + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 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).
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 as they set, giving it a rich, custard-like body.
- Egg whites
- Whip into a stiff foam that forms the light, airy meringue topping.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and helps balance the sharpness of the lemon.
- Lemons
- Supply the zest for aroma and the juice for the tart, bright flavour.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and body to the filling, making it creamy when set.
- Powdered sugar
- Sweetens the meringue and dissolves more easily into the whipped whites than granulated sugar.
The step that matters
Spread the meringue over the pie when it is nearly cold. Spreading meringue onto a hot filling can cause it to weep or slide, and the topping may not seal properly to the crust. Waiting until the pie is nearly cold helps the meringue hold its shape.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, milk):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits about as well
- Raisinfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, milk. 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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