Name: Cherry Custard Pie
Ingredients: Pie dough; 2 cups cherries, pitted; 2 egg yolks; 3 tablespoons sugar; 1 tablespoon cornstarch or 2 tablespoons flour; 1 cup milk; ¼ teaspoon salt; 2 egg whites; 2 tablespoons sugar (for meringue)

Why it works: Flour and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Cherry Custard 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

Line a pie plate with pie dough.
Layer enough cherries in the bottom to fill about one-third of the pie.

Make the custard

In a bowl, whisk together egg yolks, sugar, cornstarch (or flour), milk, and salt until well combined.
Pour the custard mixture over the cherries.

Bake and brown

Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) until set.
While baking, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form, then gradually add 2 tablespoons of sugar.
Spread the meringue over the baked custard and return to the oven to brown.

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.

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.

Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together88,785 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together77,875 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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 custard and add richness and a smooth, creamy texture.
Cornstarch or flour: Thickens the milk and egg mixture so the custard sets rather than runs.
Egg whites: Whipped into stiff peaks to form the airy, browned meringue topping.
Cherries: Provide tart fruit flavor and moisture beneath the custard.
Milk: Forms the liquid base of the custard, adding softness and body.

The step that matters

Bake until the custard is set. Egg yolks thicken as they heat, but overbaking makes them curdle and weep liquid, while underbaking leaves a runny custard that will not hold a slice. Check for a set center before adding the meringue.

“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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Cherry Custard Pie