Name: Lemon Cheesecakes
Ingredients: 2 lemons; ¼ pound (1 stick) butter; ¼ pound powdered sugar; 3 egg yolks; juice of 2 lemons; puff pastry

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 Cheesecakes

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the filling

Boil the peel of the lemons until soft, then mash into a paste.
Melt the butter and mix in the powdered sugar until well combined.
Add the lemon paste, egg yolks, and lemon juice to the mixture and stir well.

Bake

Line small tart pans with puff pastry and fill them with the lemon mixture.
Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) for 25 minutes.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Lemon + buttertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,227 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118,967 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together98,233 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together53,532 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Lemon + eggtop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked 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

Egg yolks: Add richness and help the filling set as it bakes.
Butter: Adds fat and richness, giving the filling a smooth, tender texture.
Powdered sugar: Sweetens the filling and dissolves smoothly into the melted butter.
Lemons: Provide acidity and aroma from the juice and peel.
Puff pastry: Forms the crisp, flaky case that holds the filling.

The step that matters

Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) for 25 minutes. Egg yolks set as they heat, so the filling needs enough time to firm without overbaking. Overbaking can cause it to curdle or dry out, while underbaking leaves it runny inside the pastry.