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 ↓
Rich 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
Beat the yolks of the eggs in a bowl.
Grate the rind and strain the juice of the lemons into the yolks.
Add 8 tablespoons of powdered sugar and beat until very light.
Stir in the melted butter.
Pour the mixture into a deep pie crust.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) until set.
Frost and brown
Beat the egg whites to a stiff froth.
Sweeten the froth with 4 tablespoons of powdered sugar.
Spread the frosting over the pie.
Brown the frosted pie in the oven.
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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Lemon + sugartop 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).
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
- Eggs
- Yolks thicken the filling as they set, and whites whipped into a froth form the topping.
- Lemon
- Juice and rind provide the sharp, aromatic flavour that cuts the sweetness.
- Powdered sugar
- Sweetens the filling and the frosting, and helps the yolks become light and airy when beaten.
- Melted butter
- Adds richness and fat to the filling, giving it a smoother texture.
The step that matters
Beat the egg whites to a stiff froth. Egg whites hold air when whipped to stiff peaks, forming a stable foam. Under-beaten whites collapse and weep, while over-beaten whites turn dry and grainy, so the frosting may not brown well.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, butter):
- Vanillafits better
- Lemonthe original
- Raisinfits about as well
- Figfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, 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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