Why it works: Egg and butter 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 ↓
Cheese-cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the filling
In a saucepan, combine sugar, egg yolks, egg whites, lime juice, lime rind, and butter.
Stir gently over low heat until the mixture thickens to a honey-like consistency.
Bake
Line patty pans with pastry and fill them with the mixture.
Bake in a slow oven at 300°F (150°C) until set.
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 + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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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 + limetop 29% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,332 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
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Lime + buttertop 30% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,339 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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 as they set, giving the cheesecake a rich, creamy structure.
- Egg whites
- Add structure and lightness, helping the filling set into a firm, tender texture.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a smooth, rich mouthfeel and a silky texture.
- Pounded loaf sugar
- Sweetens the filling and helps it thicken and brown lightly as it bakes.
- Lime juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the flavour and helps thicken the filling.
The step that matters
Stir gently over low heat. Egg-based fillings can curdle or scramble if overheated. Low heat and gentle stirring let the eggs thicken smoothly into a honey-like custard.
Swap the lime
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, butter):
- Vanillafits better
- Lemonfits better
- Raisinfits better
- Limethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, butter. 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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