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Dessert

Transparent Pie

A custard pie with a clear filling made from egg yolks, sugar, corn starch, water, butter, jelly, and egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Corn and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,345 recipes. Both carry 2,3-pentanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Transparent Pie

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Combine the egg yolks, sugar, corn starch, water, butter, and jelly in a bowl and stir until well mixed.

  2. Warm the mixture slightly.

  3. Fold in a portion of the beaten egg whites.

Bake the pie

  1. Pre-bake the pie crust until partially done.

  2. Pour the custard mixture into the crust.

  3. Finish baking until set.

Top and brown

  1. Sweeten the remaining egg whites and beat until stiff.

  2. Spread the stiffened whites on top of the pie.

  3. Brown the meringue in the oven 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. Corn + buttertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,345 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

  2. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

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

  5. Sugar + corntop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together7,168 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 to the filling.
Egg whites
Whipped to form a light meringue topping and lighten the custard.
Corn starch
Thickens the filling so it sets firm when baked.
Butter
Adds fat for a smooth, rich texture in the filling.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard and meringue and helps the meringue hold its structure.
Jelly
Provides fruit flavour and sweetness to the custard filling.

The step that matters

Brown the meringue in the oven before serving. Egg white meringue can weep or stay pale if underbaked or left too long. Browning sets the surface and gives flavour, but the custard beneath can overcook if the meringue is browned for too long.

“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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