Why it works: Rhubarb and flour match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 670 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Rhubarb Pie
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Wash and dry the rhubarb stalks.
Pare and cut the rhubarb into small pieces.
Make the filling
Mix sugar with flour and add to the rhubarb.
Beat the egg and mix it in.
Bake thoroughly between two crusts.
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.
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Rhubarb + flourtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together670 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Rhubarb + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,852 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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
- Rhubarb
- Provides the tart flavour and the main bulk of the pie filling.
- Flour
- Thickens the juices released by the rhubarb so the filling sets rather than runs.
- Egg
- Binds the filling and helps it set as it bakes.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and balances the sharpness of the rhubarb.
The step that matters
Bake thoroughly between two crusts. Rhubarb releases a lot of liquid as it heats. Baking long enough lets the flour and egg thicken that juice so the filling sets, rather than leaving a runny, undercooked centre.
Swap the rhubarb
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, sugar, egg):
- Jalapenofits better
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Rhubarbthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, 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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