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 cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Make the filling
In a saucepan, mix sugar, cornstarch, and salt.
Gradually add water and cook over medium heat until thickened.
In a bowl, beat egg yolks and stir in a small amount of the hot mixture.
Return the egg mixture to the saucepan and cook for 2 minutes.
Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice, lemon zest, and butter.
Assemble and cool
Pour filling into the prepared pie crust and let cool before serving.
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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Egg + buttertop 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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Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + lemontop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together44,316 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
Sugar and lemon 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
- Cornstarch
- Thickens the filling as it heats, giving it a sliceable, gel-like body.
- Egg yolks
- Add richness and further thicken the filling when gently cooked.
- Lemon juice
- Provides the tart, acidic flavor that defines the pie.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and balances the sharpness of the lemon.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a smooth, glossy texture and rich flavor.
The step that matters
Tempering the egg yolks. Adding hot mixture to the yolks slowly, while whisking, raises their temperature gradually. Adding them to the hot pan all at once can scramble the eggs, leaving the filling lumpy instead of smooth.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, butter):
- Vanillafits better
- Lemonthe original
- Raisinfits about as well
- Figfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, butter. 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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