Skip to main content
Dessert

Washington Pie

A custard pie made with sugar, milk, eggs, vanilla, cornstarch, and baked in a pie crust.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Washington Pie

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the filling

  1. Beat the egg yolks in a bowl.

  2. Add the sugar, salt, and cornstarch, and beat again.

  3. Pour the mixture into the heated milk in a double boiler.

  4. Stir until well cooked and smooth.

Assemble and bake

  1. Pour into a baked pie crust.

  2. In another bowl, beat the egg whites with 2 tablespoons of sugar and baking powder.

  3. Spread the egg white mixture over the pie filling.

  4. Brown lightly in a 400°F (200°C) oven.

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. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Sugar + syruptop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,842 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

  4. Syrup + vanillatop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,855 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

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

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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
Yolks thicken the custard, and whites whip into a light topping that sets and browns.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard, giving it body and a creamy texture.
Cornstarch
Thickens the custard as it cooks, giving it a firm, sliceable set.
Sugar
Sweetens the filling and helps stabilize the whipped egg white topping.
Karo syrup
Adds sweetness and helps keep the custard smooth by limiting sugar crystallization.
Baking powder
Helps the whipped egg white topping rise and stay light in the oven.

The step that matters

Stir the custard until well cooked and smooth. Cornstarch only thickens fully once the mixture is properly heated and stirred. Undercooked custard stays thin and can taste starchy, while uneven heat can leave lumps.

“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.

More washington pie recipes

Martha 3 See all 69 →

You might also like

Vanilla Ice CreamVanilla Ice Cream108 recipesOranges in SyrupOranges in Syrup9 recipesSyrup SauceSyrup Sauce6 recipesWhite CakeWhite Cake431 recipes