Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Lemon Pies
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
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Beat the yolks of the eggs until light, then add the sugar and beat again.
Stir in the juice and grated rind of the lemons.
If using milk, add it now along with the melted butter.
Line a pie tin with crust and pour the mixture into it.
Bake until the custard is firm.
Make the meringue and finish
In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff, then gradually add 2 tablespoons of powdered sugar.
Spread the meringue over the pie and return it to the oven until the meringue is set and golden 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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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Lemon + corntop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,927 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + lemontop 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).
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
- Eggs
- Yolks thicken the custard and whites whip into the meringue that tops the pie.
- White sugar
- Sweetens the filling and helps balance the sharpness of the lemon.
- Lemons
- Juice gives the filling its tart flavour, and the grated rind adds aroma.
- Corn-starch
- Thickens the custard so it sets firm when baked.
The step that matters
Bake until the custard is firm. Underbaked filling stays runny and will not hold a clean slice. Overbaking can make the custard weep or turn tough, so check for a set centre rather than relying only on time.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, cream, egg, corn):
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits better
- Raisinfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, cream, egg, corn. 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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