Why it works: Corn and lemon 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
In a bowl, mix sugar and corn starch well.
Add 1 cup of boiling water and stir until combined.
Boil the mixture until it thickens, then remove from heat.
Stir in the egg yolks and lemon juice to taste.
Top and finish
Whip the egg whites and use them to top the pie.
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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Corn + lemontop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,927 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Corn + buttertop 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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Butter + eggtop 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
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness to balance the tart lemon juice.
- Corn starch
- Thickens the filling as it heats with the boiling water.
- Egg yolks
- Enrich and thicken the filling, adding richness and body.
- Lemon juice
- Provides the acidity that gives the pie its bright flavor.
- Egg whites
- Whipped, they form a light foam that tops the pie.
The step that matters
Boil the mixture until it thickens. Cornstarch only thickens fully once it reaches a boil, and it must be cooked long enough to lose its raw starchy taste. Stopping too early leaves a thin, runny filling.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, corn, butter, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits better
- Figfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, corn, 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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