Why it works: Egg and butter 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 ↓
Rhubarb Pie
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Peel and chop the rhubarb very fine.
In a bowl, combine the chopped rhubarb, sugar, beaten egg, and butter or salt.
Bake
Pour the mixture into a pie crust.
Bake until the filling is 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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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.
-
Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
-
Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Rhubarb + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,852 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
-
Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Rhubarb + buttertop 27% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together673 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Rhubarb
- Supplies the tart flavor and most of the filling's body.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the tart rhubarb and balances its sharp acidity.
- Egg
- Binds the filling and sets it into a soft, sliceable texture as it bakes.
The step that matters
Bake until the filling is set. Egg proteins coagulate with heat and thicken the rhubarb juices. Underbaked filling stays runny and soggy, while overbaking can make it rubbery and weepy.
Swap the rhubarb
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, butter):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Capersfits better
- Rhubarbthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, butter. 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.
More rhubarb pie recipes
You might also like
Rhubarb Marmalade35 recipes
Rhubarb Jelly28 recipes
White Cake431 recipes
Pound Cake373 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.