Why it works: Lemon and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,053 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Mrs. Pekry's Lemon 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
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Line a deep pie plate with pastry.
Make the filling
In a bowl, mix the lemon juice, grated rind, sugar, beaten yolks, and cornstarch dissolved in milk.
Pour the mixture into the crust and bake until set.
Top and brown
Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks and gradually add the powdered sugar.
Spread the meringue over the pie and return to the oven for a short time to brown.
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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Lemon + milktop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Lemon + eggtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together44,316 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
Lemon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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
- Lemon juice
- Provides the sharp acidity that gives the filling its tang.
- Eggs
- Yolks thicken the filling as they set, while whites form the meringue topping.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and helps balance the acidity of the lemon.
- Cornstarch
- Thickens the filling so it sets firmly when baked.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and body to the filling, making it creamy.
- Powdered sugar
- Dissolves easily into the whites to stabilise and sweeten the meringue.
The step that matters
Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks and gradually add the powdered sugar.. Whites must be beaten until they hold stiff peaks, and sugar added gradually, so the meringue is glossy and stable. Under-beaten or greasy whites will weep or collapse when browned.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, milk, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits about as well
- Raisinfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, milk, 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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