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Dessert

Orange Pie

A custard pie with orange zest, juice, and slices, topped with meringue.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 118,967 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓

Orange Pie

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Cream together powdered sugar and butter.

  2. Mix cornstarch with a little cold water, then add boiling water to the cornstarch mixture.

  3. Cook until thickened, stirring constantly.

  4. Pour the thickened mixture into the creamed butter and sugar.

  5. Grate peel from one orange. Chop the other half of orange, removing inner white skin.

  6. Add grated peel and chopped orange to the mixture along with beaten egg and orange juice.

Prepare the crust and filling

  1. Peel and slice another orange into thin bits, removing all seeds and tough white skin.

  2. Line a pie plate with pie crust and bake until just done.

  3. Fill crust with custard mixture and orange slices.

  4. Bake until egg is cooked.

Top and finish

  1. Beat egg whites with a pinch of salt and 2 tablespoons powdered sugar until stiff.

  2. Spread meringue over pie.

  3. Sift powdered sugar on top.

  4. Return to oven until slightly colored.

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. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Sugar + orangetop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together19,212 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

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

  5. Butter + orangetop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,301 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

Sugar and orange barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 19,212 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

Eggs
Egg yolk and whites set the custard and give the meringue its structure.
Cornstarch
Thickens the boiling water into a smooth custard that holds the orange pieces.
Butter
Adds richness and a tender texture to the creamed base.
Powdered sugar
Sweetens the custard and the meringue, and helps the meringue stay glossy.
Orange
Provides juice, zest and slices for bright citrus flavor and aroma.

The step that matters

Cook the cornstarch mixture until thickened, stirring constantly. Cornstarch only thickens fully when it reaches a boil and is stirred, so the gelatinized starch sets the custard evenly. Stopping early leaves a thin filling, and letting it sit without stirring can scorch or clump it.

Swap the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, egg):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Lemonfits better
  3. Raisinfits better
  4. Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, 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.

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