Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Lemon Pie — No. 3
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.
Prepare the filling
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, combine water, sugar, egg yolks, butter, and bread.
Add the grated lemon rind and juice, mixing well.
Pour the mixture into a pie dish with only an under-crust.
Bake until set.
Top and brown
Beat the egg whites until frothy.
Add 4 tablespoons of powdered sugar and a few drops of lemon juice.
Spread the egg white mixture over the pie.
Return to the oven to brown slightly.
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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Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Walnut + lemontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,149 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Walnut + buttertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,832 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the filling as they set, giving the pie a smooth, custard-like body.
- Egg whites
- Whipped into a foam that bakes into a light, browned meringue topping.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and helps the meringue stay glossy and tender.
- Bread
- Soaks up liquid and helps thicken the filling into a soft, spreadable set.
- Lemon
- Adds bright acidity and aroma from the rind and juice.
The step that matters
Bake the filling until set. Egg yolks thicken on heating, so underbaking leaves the filling runny, while overbaking can make it weep or turn grainy. Check that it is set before adding the topping.
Swap the walnut
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, butter, bread, lemon):
- Almondfits better
- Peasfits about as well
- Pecansfits about as well
- Walnutthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, butter, bread, lemon. 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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