Why it works: Rhubarb and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,852 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓
Rhubarb 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.
Prepare the filling
String the rhubarb and cut it into pieces.
Mix the rhubarb with sugar to taste.
Assemble and bake
Fill the pie crust with the rhubarb mixture.
Cover with another pie crust or lattice top.
Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven until the crust is golden and the filling is bubbly.
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.
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Rhubarb + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,852 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Rhubarb
- Provides the tart flavour and most of the filling's moisture as it cooks down.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the tart rhubarb and helps draw out juice that thickens into the filling.
- Pie crust
- Forms the structure that holds the filling and browns in the oven.
The step that matters
Bake until the filling is bubbly. Rhubarb releases a lot of liquid. The filling needs to bubble fully so the juices thicken and the bottom crust cooks through rather than staying soggy.
“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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