Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. 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).
In a bowl, beat the yolks of three eggs.
Mix in one cup of butter, one cup of sugar, the peel and juice of one lemon, and ½ cup of milk with 2 teaspoons of cornstarch.
Pour the mixture into a pie crust and bake until set.
Make the meringue and finish
In another bowl, beat the whites of three eggs until soft peaks form.
Gradually add 4 tablespoons of sugar and a little lemon juice, continuing to beat until stiff peaks form.
Spread the meringue over the baked pie and return it to the oven for a few moments to harden.
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.
-
Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Lemon + milktop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
-
Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
-
Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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 and add richness as they set during baking.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a rich, tender texture in the filling.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and helps stabilize the egg white meringue.
- Cornstarch
- Thickens the lemon filling so it holds its shape when set.
- Egg whites
- Whipped into foam to form the light, airy meringue topping.
The step that matters
Beating the meringue to stiff peaks. Egg whites must be beaten until stiff peaks form, and sugar added gradually, so the foam holds its shape and bakes into a stable topping. Underbeaten whites weep or collapse, while overbeaten whites turn dry and grainy.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, butter, sugar, milk):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits about as well
- Coconutfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, butter, sugar, milk. 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.
More lemon pie recipes
You might also like
Lemon Cake228 recipes
Lemon Ice147 recipes
Lemon Sherbet103 recipes
Lemon Custard64 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.