Why it works: Butter and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,227 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓
Lemon 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
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Beat the eggs in a bowl.
Make the filling
In a double boiler, stir in the sugar, butter, lemon juice, lemon rind, and salt.
Gradually add the cold water while stirring until the mixture thickens like drop batter.
Bake the crust
Prick the pie crust.
Bake the crust until golden.
Let the crust cool.
Pour the cooled lemon mixture into the crust.
Make the meringue and finish
Beat the egg whites until stiff.
Gradually add the powdered sugar, then fold in 1 tablespoon.
Spread the meringue over the pie.
Brown the meringue in the oven.
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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Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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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 + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + lemontop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together44,316 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
Sugar and lemon 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
- Eggs
- Beaten eggs thicken the lemon filling as they set with gentle heat.
- Egg whites
- Whipped to stiff peaks, they form the airy structure of the meringue topping.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and balances the sharpness of the lemon.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a smoother, richer texture in the filling.
- Lemon
- Juice provides acidity and rind adds bright aroma to the filling.
- Powdered sugar
- Sweetens the meringue and helps it hold its stiff, glossy structure.
The step that matters
Thickening the lemon filling over the double boiler. Egg proteins set as they heat, so the filling should cook gently while stirring. Too much heat or uneven stirring can scramble the eggs and leave lumps instead of a smooth, thick custard.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, butter):
- Vanillafits better
- Lemonthe original
- Raisinfits about as well
- Figfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, 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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