Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Vinegar 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.
Make the filling
In a saucepan, combine the egg yolks, cold water, sugar, vinegar, butter, and lemon extract.
Whisk in the flour until smooth.
Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture boils and thickens.
Bake and assemble
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C) and bake the pie crust separately until golden.
Pour the filling into the baked crust.
Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form, then spread over the filling.
Brown the meringue in the oven for a few minutes.
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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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 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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Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,806 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the filling and add richness and colour to the custard.
- Flour
- Thickens the cooked filling so it sets into a sliceable custard.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and balances the sharpness of the vinegar.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that gives the filling its tangy flavour.
- Egg whites
- Whip into a stiff foam that forms the meringue topping and browns in the oven.
The step that matters
Cook the filling until it boils and thickens. Flour only thickens fully when the mixture reaches a boil, and constant stirring prevents lumps and scorching on the base. Undercooked starch leaves the filling runny once cooled.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, vinegar, butter, flour):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, vinegar, butter, 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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