Name: Rhubarb Pie
Ingredients: stalks of rhubarb (pie-plant); boiling water; sugar; cornstarch; butter (optional); pie crust (rich or puff paste); egg white (for sealing); beaten egg (for topping)

Why it works: Butter and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 118,967 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓

Rhubarb Pie

Ingredients

Directions

Remove the skin from the rhubarb stalks and cut them into 1-inch pieces.
Pour boiling water over the rhubarb and let it sit while you prepare the pie crust.
Drain the rhubarb and line your pie plates with the pie crust.
Sprinkle cornstarch and sugar over the crust, then add the rhubarb pieces.
Sprinkle more sugar on top and add flakes of butter if desired.
Cover with another layer of pie crust, sealing the edges with egg white.
Spread beaten egg over the top crust.
Use perforated pie plates and remove the pie immediately after baking to prevent sticking.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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.

Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118,967 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together98,233 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Rhubarb + sugartop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,852 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together122,807 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Rhubarb + buttertop 27% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together673 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).