Name: Peach Meringue Pie
Ingredients: Peaches; 3 egg whites; 3 tablespoons powdered sugar

Why it works: Peach and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,308 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Peach Meringue Pie

Ingredients

Peaches
3 egg whites
3 tablespoons powdered sugar

Directions

Prepare the peaches as you would for a peach pie, omitting the upper crust.
Bake the pie until the crust and fruit are cooked through.
While the pie is baking, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
Gradually add the powdered sugar to the egg whites, continuing to beat until well combined.
Once the pie crust is done, quickly spread the meringue over the top.
Return the pie to the oven and bake until the meringue is browned.

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.

Peach + sugartop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,308 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together122,807 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Peach + eggtop 29% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,048 recipes

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