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Rhubarb Pie

A fruit pie with rhubarb, sugar, eggs, and a pie crust, topped with stiff egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Rhubarb Pie

Why it works: Rhubarb and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,852 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓

Rhubarb Pie

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare the filling

  1. Scald the rhubarb in boiling water for about 5 minutes, then remove from heat.

  2. Add 2 cups of sugar and the yolks of 3 eggs to the rhubarb.

  3. Boil the mixture until it thickens, similar to corn starch.

Assemble and bake

  1. Pour the filling into the pie crust.

  2. Beat the whites of 3 eggs until stiff and spread over the top of the pie.

  3. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for about 5 minutes.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Rhubarb + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,852 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

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

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

  3. Rhubarb + eggtop 31% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together570 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Rhubarb
Provides the tart flavour and the bulk of the filling.
Sugar
Sweetens the filling and helps it thicken when cooked.
Egg yolks
Thicken the filling as they cook and add richness.
Egg whites
Beaten stiff, they form a light topping that sets and browns in the oven.

The step that matters

Boil the filling until it thickens. The egg yolks thicken the filling only when it is cooked long enough. Undercooked yolks leave the filling runny, so it should thicken noticeably before it is poured into the crust.

Swap the rhubarb

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Rhubarbthe original
  4. Gingerfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, 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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