Why it works: Milk and butter 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 ↓
Meringue Pie
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the custard
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Beat the egg yolks until light.
Add the sugar and butter to the yolks and mix well.
Combine the corn starch and milk, then add the lemon juice and peel.
Mix all ingredients together and beat well.
Line two pie pans with pie crust.
Bake and top
Pour the custard mixture into the crusts and bake until set.
Beat the egg whites until stiff, then sweeten to taste.
Spread the beaten egg whites over the baked custard and return to the oven to 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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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Milk + corntop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,955 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
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Corn + lemontop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,927 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Corn + buttertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,345 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
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Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the custard and add richness and colour.
- Corn starch
- Thickens the milk and lemon mixture so the custard sets smoothly.
- Egg whites
- Whip into a stiff foam that bakes into a light, browned topping.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the custard and the meringue topping.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a smooth, rich custard texture.
- Lemon
- Adds acidity and aroma to the custard.
The step that matters
Beat the egg whites until stiff. Egg whites must be whipped to stiff peaks to hold air and form a stable topping. Any trace of fat or yolk can stop them whipping, and underbeaten whites will weep or collapse in the oven.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, milk, corn, butter):
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, milk, corn, butter. 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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