Why it works: Egg and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 88,785 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Prune Pie
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the filling
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, mix the egg yolks, sugar, cornstarch, and sweet milk until smooth.
Add the pitted prunes to the mixture and stir well.
Bake and top
Pour the filling into the pie crust and bake until set.
Whip the egg whites until soft peaks form, then gradually add 1 tablespoon of sugar until stiff peaks form.
Spread the meringue over the baked pie and return to the oven until golden.
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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Egg + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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
- Thicken the filling and add richness and a custard-like texture when baked.
- Cornstarch
- Thickens the sweet milk and egg mixture so the filling sets rather than running.
- Prunes
- Provide the main flavor and a soft, moist body to the filling.
- Egg whites
- Whip into a foam that forms the meringue topping and browns in the oven.
The step that matters
Whip the egg whites to stiff peaks. Sugar must be added gradually so the whites hold a stable foam. Under-whipped or overmixed whites weep or collapse, leaving the meringue flat or watery.
“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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