Why it works: Rhubarb and flour match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 670 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Rhubarb Pie
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the rhubarb
Select red rhubarb stalks that have grown in the sun and cut them where the leaves begin.
Strip off the outer skin and cut the rhubarb into pieces about ½ inch long.
Assemble the pie
Line a pie dish with the pie crust and add a layer of rhubarb nearly an inch deep.
Sprinkle the rhubarb with sugar, salt, and a little flour.
Cover with another crust, make a slit in the center, and trim the edges.
Bake
Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) until done.
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.
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Rhubarb + flourtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together670 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Rhubarb + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,852 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Red rhubarb stalks
- Provides the tart flavour and fibrous structure that gives the pie its filling body.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the tart rhubarb and helps draw out its juices as the filling cooks.
- Flour
- Thickens the juices released by the rhubarb so the filling sets rather than running.
- Pie crust
- Forms the structural base and top that enclose the filling while it bakes.
The step that matters
Sprinkling the rhubarb with sugar and flour. Rhubarb releases a lot of liquid as it cooks. Flour mixed through the fruit absorbs and thickens that juice, so the filling sets instead of making the bottom crust soggy.
Swap the rhubarb
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, flour):
- Jalapenofits better
- Cinnamonfits better
- Rhubarbthe original
- Nutmegfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, flour. 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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