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
Grate the rind of the lemons.
Beat together the lemon rind, juice, 10 tablespoons of sugar, and the yolks of 4 eggs until very light. Add 2 tablespoons of water and mix well.
Line a large pie dish with the crust and fill it with the lemon mixture.
Bake and top with meringue
Bake at 350°F (175°C) until the crust is done.
Beat the egg whites until stiff, then gradually add 2 tablespoons of sugar.
Spread the meringue over the top of the pie and bake until light brown.
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
- Lemons
- Provide the rind and juice that give the filling its bright, sharp flavour.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and helps stabilise the meringue as it is whipped.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the lemon filling as it bakes, giving it a soft, custard-like body.
- Egg whites
- Whip into a foam that forms the light, airy meringue topping.
The step that matters
Beating the egg whites until stiff. Under-whipped whites collapse and weep, while over-whipped whites turn dry and grainy. Sugar added gradually stabilises the foam so the meringue holds its shape and browns evenly.
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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