Why it works: Flour and butter 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 ↓
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 the filling
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, beat the egg yolks, then add the sugar, lemon juice, grated lemon, flour, and butter. Stir until smooth and light.
Gradually add the boiling water, stirring thoroughly.
Bake and finish
Pour the mixture into a pie crust and bake like a custard pie.
In another bowl, beat the egg whites to a stiff froth, then add 2 tablespoons of sugar.
Once the pie is done, remove it from the oven, spread the frosting on top, and return it to the oven until lightly browned.
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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Flour + buttertop 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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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Lemon + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Lemon + flourtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,404 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter 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 as they set during baking.
- Lemon juice
- Provides the sharp acidity that defines the lemon flavour.
- Flour
- Thickens the filling so it sets into a sliceable custard.
- Egg whites
- Whipped into a stiff froth to form a light, browned meringue topping.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and helps the meringue become stable and glossy.
The step that matters
Spreading the frosting and returning the pie to the oven. The meringue must be spread over the baked filling and browned briefly. Overbaking can make the meringue weep, shrink, or turn tough, while underbaking leaves it pale and soft.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, flour, butter):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, flour, butter. 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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