Why it works: Rhubarb and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 177 recipes. Both carry acetic acid, which smells sour, vinegar. The science ↓
Rhubarb Pie
makes one pieIngredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the rhubarb
Pour boiling water over the chopped rhubarb and let it stand for 4–5 minutes, then drain well.
Make the filling
In a bowl, mix the drained rhubarb with sugar, flour, butter, egg yolk, and nutmeg.
Whip the egg white until frothy, then gradually add 1½ teaspoons of sugar and continue whipping until stiff peaks form.
Spread the whipped egg white over the rhubarb mixture.
Bake
Bake in a 400 °F (200 °C) oven until the top is browned. This recipe makes one pie.
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 + nutmegtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together177 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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Rhubarb + flourtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together670 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Rhubarb
- Provides the tart flavour and the bulk of the pie filling.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and balances the sharpness of the rhubarb.
- Flour
- Thickens the rhubarb juices so the filling holds together when cut.
- Egg yolk
- Enriches the filling and helps bind it into a smooth, set custard.
- Egg white
- Whipped to stiff peaks, it forms a light topping that browns in the oven.
The step that matters
Draining the rhubarb well. Rhubarb releases a lot of liquid. Leftover water thins the filling and can keep it from setting, so the rhubarb should be drained thoroughly before mixing.
Swap the rhubarb
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, flour, butter, egg, nutmeg):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Allspicefits about as well
- Capersfits about as well
- Rhubarbthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, flour, butter, egg, nutmeg. 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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