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Dessert

Lemon Pie

A lemon custard pie topped with meringue, baked in a flaky pastry crust.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Lemon Pie

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the lemon filling

  1. Mix cornstarch and sugar in a bowl.

  2. Add the mixture to boiling water.

  3. Stir until thickened.

  4. Add grated lemon rind.

  5. Cook for 10 minutes.

  6. Beat egg yolks until creamy. Slowly add the yolks to the cornstarch mixture.

  7. Cook for 2 more minutes.

  8. Remove from heat. Stir in lemon juice and butter.

Bake the crust

  1. Line a pie pan with flaky pastry. Cover with wax paper. Fill with stale bread to weigh it down.

  2. Bake in a moderate oven until crust is golden.

  3. Remove the paper. Fill with the lemon mixture.

Make the meringue and finish

  1. Beat egg whites until stiff. Gradually add 2 tablespoons sugar. Beat until combined.

  2. Spread meringue over the pie.

  3. Bake in a cool oven until lightly browned.

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 + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  3. Lemon + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,227 recipes

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

  4. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Cornstarch
Thickens the lemon filling into a smooth, sliceable custard as it cooks in boiling water.
Egg yolks
Enrich and thicken the filling, adding richness and a smooth, set texture.
Sugar
Sweetens the filling and balances the sharpness of the lemon juice.
Lemon juice
Provides the bright acidity that defines the filling's flavor.
Egg whites
Whipped into a stiff foam that forms the light, airy meringue topping.

The step that matters

Add the egg yolks slowly to the hot cornstarch mixture. Adding yolks too fast can scramble them and leave lumps. Adding them gradually while stirring tempers the eggs so the filling stays smooth and thickens evenly.

Swap the lemon

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Datesfits about as well
  4. Lemonthe original

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