Why it works: Lemon and butter 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 Cheese Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a good oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the lemon filling
Grate the yellow rind from the lemon and combine it with the lemon juice, sugar, and butter in a saucepan.
Beat the egg and add it to the mixture.
Stir over low heat until the sugar dissolves and the mixture thickens.
Remove from heat and stir occasionally until cool.
Bake the tarts
Line patty pans with puff or rough pastry.
Add a teaspoon of the lemon mixture to each pastry and bake for about 15 minutes at 350°F (175°C).
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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Lemon + buttertop 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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Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Lemon + eggtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together44,316 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
Lemon and sugar 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
- Thicken the filling as they set with gentle heat, giving the curd its body.
- Butter
- Adds richness and smoothness, helping the filling set silky rather than grainy.
- White sugar
- Sweetens the filling and dissolves into the juice to balance its sharp acidity.
- Lemon
- Provides the juice for tartness and the rind for aroma.
The step that matters
Stir over low heat until the sugar dissolves and the mixture thickens. Egg proteins set at moderate temperatures, so high heat can curdle the filling into lumps. Gentle, constant stirring keeps it smooth while the eggs thicken it.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, butter):
- Vanillafits better
- Lemonthe original
- Raisinfits about as well
- Figfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, 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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