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
Prepare
Combine rhubarb, sugar, water, and tapioca in a bowl and let stand while preparing the pie crust.
Assemble and bake
Fill the pie shell with the rhubarb mixture.
Moisten the edges of the pie shell with water.
Lattice the top with thin strips of pie crust cut in 1-2 inch lengths.
Bake in a preheated 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.
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 the main filling bulk.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and balances the tartness of the rhubarb.
- Tapioca
- Thickens the juices released by the rhubarb so the filling sets rather than runs.
The step that matters
Letting the rhubarb mixture stand. Sugar draws juice out of the rhubarb, and tapioca needs that liquid to swell and thicken the filling. Letting it stand lets the tapioca hydrate before baking, which helps prevent a runny pie.
“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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