Why it works: Lemon and corn are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,927 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Lemon Pie
Ingredients
Directions
Make the filling
Combine lemon juice, grated rind, sugar, egg yolks, water, and corn starch in a small pot.
Place the pot in a larger pot of boiling water and cook until thickened.
Prepare the crust
Prepare puff pastry and line a pie plate with it.
Bake the lined pie plate until lightly browned.
Assemble the pie
Pour the lemon mixture into the crust.
Beat the egg whites with sugar until stiff.
Spread the stiff egg whites over the lemon filling.
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 + corntop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,927 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Lemon + eggtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together44,316 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + corntop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together7,168 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 to the lemon custard.
- Corn starch
- Thickens the lemon mixture as it cooks into a smooth custard.
- Egg whites
- Whipped with sugar to form a stiff topping that sets lightly over the filling.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and helps stabilize the beaten egg white topping.
- Lemon
- Provides the sharp acidity and aroma that define the filling.
The step that matters
Cook the filling until thickened. Corn starch thickens only when the mixture reaches a full simmer-level heat; stopping early leaves a runny filling. The double boiler gives gentle heat, so egg yolks cook slowly without scrambling. Cook until the mixture coats a spoon before pouring it into the crust.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, corn):
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits about as well
- Raisinfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, corn. 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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