Why it works: Lemon and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 53,532 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.
Make the filling
In a saucepan, combine lemon rind, lemon juice, 1 cup sugar, and 1 cup water.
Cook over medium heat until the mixture is warm.
Dissolve cornstarch in a little water, then add to the saucepan and stir until thickened.
Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
Beat the egg yolks and stir them into the lemon mixture.
Pour the filling into a pie crust.
Make the frosting and bake
For the frosting, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form, then gradually add ½ cup sugar and beat until stiff peaks form.
Spread the frosting over the pie and bake at 350°F (175°C) until golden.
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 + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 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).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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
- Eggs
- Yolks thicken the filling and whites whip into a stable meringue topping.
- Cornstarch
- Starch swells in the hot liquid, thickening the lemon filling to a sliceable set.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and, in the meringue, stabilizes the whipped egg whites.
- Lemon
- Rind and juice provide the aroma and the sharp acidity that defines the filling.
The step that matters
Cool the cornstarch mixture before adding the yolks. Egg yolks scramble if added to a very hot mixture, which leaves specks in the filling. Letting it cool slightly first lets the yolks blend in smoothly and thicken gently.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
- Datesfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, 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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