Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Rich Lemon Pie
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the filling
Grate the lemon rinds into a bowl with the sugar.
Squeeze the lemon juice into the bowl.
Beat the egg yolks until light and mix them with the cream.
Combine the cream mixture with the lemon and sugar.
Whip the egg whites to a froth and gently stir them into the mixture.
Bake and serve
Line pie pans with puff pastry.
Fill with the mixture.
Bake in a moderate oven until set, placing them under the oven shelf to prevent over-browning.
Dust with powdered sugar before serving.
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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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, 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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Lemon + eggtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together44,316 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Cream + eggtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together42,166 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and balances the sharp acidity of the lemon.
- Lemons
- Provide acidity and aroma from the rind and juice, flavouring the filling.
- Rich cream
- Adds fat and moisture, giving the filling a smooth, rich body.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken and set the filling as they cook, giving it structure.
- Egg whites
- Whipped to a froth, they lighten the filling and add airy texture.
The step that matters
Bake in a moderate oven until set, shielding from over-browning. Egg-based fillings set through gentle heat, and the proteins can turn grainy or curdle if overcooked. Placing the pans under the oven shelf reduces surface browning while the centre finishes setting.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, cream, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Strawberryfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, cream, egg. 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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