Why it works: Sugar and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 92,116 recipes. Both carry phenylacetaldehyde, which smells hawthorne, honey. The science ↓
Currant 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.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, mix the mashed currants, sugar, water, flour, and egg yolks until well combined.
Pour the mixture into a pie crust.
Make the meringue and bake
In another bowl, whip the egg whites until soft peaks form, then gradually add 2 tablespoons of sugar and continue whipping until stiff peaks form.
Spread the whipped egg whites over the top of the pie.
Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the meringue is 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 + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Currant + eggtop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together8,734 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Currant + flourtop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together8,077 recipes
Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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
- Mashed ripe currants
- Provide the main fruit flavor and body of the filling.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the filling as they set during baking.
- Egg whites
- Whip into a foam that forms the meringue topping and browns in the oven.
- Flour
- Helps thicken the currant filling so it holds its shape when cut.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the tart currant filling and helps stabilize the whipped whites.
The step that matters
Whipping the egg whites to stiff peaks. Under-whipped whites will not hold the meringue up and may weep or slide into the filling. Over-whipped whites turn dry and grainy, and they can crack while baking. Adding sugar gradually helps the foam stay stable.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, flour, egg):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Lemonfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, flour, egg. 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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