Skip to main content
Dessert

Caramel Pie

A sweet pie with caramelized sugar, butter, milk, eggs, preserves, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Plum and vanilla match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 171 recipes. Both carry methyl cinnamate, which smells strawberry. The science ↓

Caramel Pie

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the filling

  1. Cream together the sugar and butter.

  2. Add the milk, eggs, preserves, and vanilla; mix well.

Bake

  1. Pour the mixture into single pie crusts.

  2. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until set.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Plum + vanillatop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together171 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

  2. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  3. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Milk + plumtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together406 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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

Sugar
Sweetens the filling and browns slightly in the oven for a caramel-like flavor.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, giving the filling a tender, smooth texture.
Eggs
Set as they bake, turning the liquid filling into a firm, custard-like pie.
Milk
Adds moisture and creaminess to the filling.
Damson plum preserves
Add tartness and fruit flavor that balances the sweetness.
Vanilla
Adds a warm, aromatic flavor to the filling.

The step that matters

Bake until set. Eggs set as they heat, so the filling needs enough time to firm up. Overbaking can make it curdle or weep liquid, while underbaking leaves it runny in the center.

Swap the plum

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, milk, egg, vanilla):

  1. Figfits better
  2. Peachfits better
  3. Coconutfits better
  4. Plumthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, milk, egg, vanilla. 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.

You might also like

Vanilla Ice CreamVanilla Ice Cream108 recipesMixed Fruit SherbetMixed Fruit Sherbet6 recipesWhite CakeWhite Cake431 recipesPound CakePound Cake373 recipes