Why it works: Lemon and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,227 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. 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 the grated lemon rind, lemon juice, sugar, cornstarch, boiling water, butter, and salt.
Boil the mixture until it is evenly cooked.
Once cool, stir in the yolks of 2 eggs.
Top and bake
Pour the filling into a pre-baked pie crust.
Beat the egg whites until soft peaks form, then gradually add 4 tablespoons of sugar until stiff peaks form.
Spread the meringue over the pie filling.
Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven until the meringue is lightly browned.
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 + buttertop 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).
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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).
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
- Lemon juice
- Provides the sharp acidity that balances the sweetness of the filling.
- Cornstarch
- Thickens the filling as it boils, giving it a sliceable set.
- Egg yolks
- Enrich and thicken the filling, adding richness and a smooth texture.
- Egg whites
- Whipped with sugar to form the airy, stable meringue topping.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and, when whipped with egg whites, stabilizes the meringue.
The step that matters
Beating the meringue to stiff peaks. Egg whites must be whipped gradually with sugar until stiff peaks form. Under-whipped whites collapse or weep, while the sugar helps stabilize the foam so the topping holds its shape when baked.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Lemonthe original
- Raisinfits about as well
- Figfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, 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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