Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Make the filling
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, mix ¾ cup sugar, 3 egg yolks, 2 tablespoons melted butter, 2 tablespoons sweet cream, and the juice and grated rind of 1 lemon until well combined.
Pour the mixture into a pie crust and bake for about 25 minutes.
Make the meringue and finish
While the pie is baking, beat 3 egg whites until stiff peaks form, then gradually add ½ cup sugar until glossy.
Spread the meringue over the baked pie and return to the oven for an additional 10 minutes, or until the meringue is lightly browned.
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 + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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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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Butter + lemontop 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).
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.
- Egg whites
- Whip into a stiff foam that forms the light, browned meringue topping.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and helps stabilize the whipped egg white meringue.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the sweet filling.
- Melted butter
- Adds fat for a smoother, richer texture in the filling.
The step that matters
Beating the egg whites into stiff, glossy peaks. Egg whites need to be whipped until stiff and then have sugar added gradually so the foam stays stable. Under-whipped or deflated whites will weep or collapse over the filling instead of browning into a light topping.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, butter, cream):
- Vanillafits better
- Strawberryfits about as well
- Raspberryfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, butter, cream. 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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