Why it works: Raisin and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,742 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓
Raisin 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.
Prepare the filling
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Stir and chop the raisins.
In a bowl, mix the chopped raisins with lemon juice, lemon rind, and egg yolks.
Bake
Pour the mixture into the pie crust.
Bake until set and lightly golden.
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.
-
Raisin + lemontop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,742 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
-
Lemon + eggtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together44,316 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
-
Raisin + eggtop 23% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,556 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Lemon and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 44,316 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
- Raisins
- Provide the main sweetness and a chewy, juicy texture in the filling.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens and balances the sweetness of the raisins.
- Lemon rind
- Contributes fragrant citrus oils that add aroma to the filling.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken and set the filling as it bakes, giving it a sliceable structure.
The step that matters
Bake until set. Egg yolks thicken as they heat, so underbaking leaves the filling runny, while overbaking can make it curdle, weep, and turn dry.
Swap the raisin
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lemon, egg):
- Orangefits better
- Limefits better
- Raspberryfits better
- Raisinthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against lemon, 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.
More raisin pie recipes
You might also like
Lemon Cake228 recipes
Lemon Ice147 recipes
Lemon Sherbet103 recipes
Lemon Custard64 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.