Why it works: Lemon and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 53,532 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, 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.
Make the custard
Beat the egg yolks lightly in a bowl.
Dissolve the cornstarch in ½ cup of water and add it to the yolks.
Boil the juice of the lemons with ½ cup of water, then add to the yolk mixture.
Place the mixture in a steamer and add the sugar; boil until thickened like custard.
Set aside to cool.
Assemble and bake
Spread the cooled custard on a sponge cake base.
Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks, gradually adding the powdered sugar.
Spread the meringue over the custard and brown in a 350°F (175°C) oven.
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 + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + lemontop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together44,316 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the filling and add richness and a custard-like set when heated.
- Cornstarch
- Thickens the lemon mixture so the custard holds its shape when cooled.
- Lemon juice
- Adds sharp acidity that balances the sugar and gives the filling its flavor.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the custard and helps balance the tartness of the lemon.
- Egg whites
- Whipped into a foam that forms the meringue topping, which sets and browns in the oven.
- Powdered sugar
- Dissolves easily into the whipped whites, stabilizing the meringue and adding sweetness.
The step that matters
Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks, gradually adding the powdered sugar.. Whites must be beaten until they hold stiff peaks; sugar added gradually stabilizes the foam so the meringue holds its shape and browns evenly.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
- Datesfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar. 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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