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Dessert

Cream Raspberry Pie

A pie of raspberries topped with a creamy custard made from milk, cornstarch, powdered sugar, and egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 88,785 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Cream Raspberry Pie

Oven, in the book's wordsA brisk oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a brisk oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the pie

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

  2. Line a pie dish with puff pastry and fill it with raspberries, sweetened to taste.

  3. Cover with pastry, but do not press down at the edges; rub the edge of the lower crust to prevent sticking.

Make the cream

  1. While the pie is baking, heat ⅓ cup of milk with a pinch of baking soda.

  2. Stir in the cornstarch, previously wetted with a little cold milk, and add the powdered sugar.

  3. Cook for three minutes, then pour into a small bowl and beat in the frothed egg whites until creamy.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake in the preheated oven until golden.

  2. When the pie is done, lift the top crust and pour in the cream mixture, then replace the crust.

  3. Let the pie cool and sprinkle a little sugar over the top before serving.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  2. Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Sugar and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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

Raspberries
Provide the main fruit filling, with sweetness and tart flavour.
Cornstarch
Thickens the milk mixture into a soft, spoonable cream.
Egg whites
Whipped into the cream to add lightness and a creamy airy texture.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the cream that thickens with cornstarch.
Puff pastry
Forms the flaky, golden crust that encloses the filling.

The step that matters

Beating in the egg whites. The cream should be hot enough to cook the thickened mixture but not so hot that the frothed egg whites scramble or lose their airy volume. Folding them in gently keeps the cream smooth and light.

“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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