Why it works: Egg and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 22,662 recipes. Both carry (e)-2-octenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Lemon-pie
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the crust
Line a shallow plate with pie crust.
Cut thick strips about 1 inch wide to lay around the edge after wetting it.
Use a spoon with a hole in the handle to press the edge of the crust for decoration.
Make the filling
Wash and wipe the lemon.
Grate the yellow rind.
Cut the lemon into pieces.
Press out the juice.
Wash out the remaining pulp with 2 tablespoons of cold water.
Discard the pulp.
Combine the lemon juice, grated rind, 2 tablespoons of water, beaten egg, sugar, bread crumbs or flour, and salt in a bowl.
Fill the crust with the mixture.
Bake and serve
Bake uncovered until set.
Once cool, pour blanc-mange on top if desired.
Refrigerate until cold before serving.
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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Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (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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Lemon + breadtop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,445 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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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
- Lemon
- Provides the juice and rind that give the pie its sharp, aromatic flavour.
- Egg
- Sets the filling as it bakes, giving it a firm, sliceable body.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and balances the lemon's acidity.
- Bread crumbs or flour
- Thickens the juice so the filling holds its shape when set.
The step that matters
Bake uncovered until set. Egg proteins set only when heated enough, but overbaking makes them tighten and weep liquid. Stop when the centre barely wobbles, since it firms further as it cools.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, bread):
- Vanillafits better
- Datesfits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, 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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