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Lemon Pie Filling

A sweet lemon custard used as pie filling.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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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 Pie Filling

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a saucepan, mix together the sugar, egg yolks, lemon juice, and lemon rind.

  2. Place the mixture on the stove and bring to a boil.

  3. Add the boiling water and stir until smooth.

  4. In a small bowl, mix the cornstarch with a little cold water, then add it to the saucepan.

  5. Add the butter and continue to boil until the mixture thickens to a custard consistency.

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.

  1. Lemon + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,227 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  2. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together53,532 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Egg + lemontop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together44,316 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

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

Egg yolks
Add richness and help thicken the filling as they set with heat.
Cornstarch
Thickens the filling into a smooth, glossy custard when boiled.
White sugar
Sweetens the filling and balances the sharpness of the lemon.
Lemon juice
Provides the sour acidity that defines the filling's flavour.
Butter
Adds fat for a silkier mouthfeel and a rounder flavour.

The step that matters

Boiling the cornstarch mixture. Cornstarch only thickens fully once it reaches a boil and its starch granules swell and gelatinize. Stirring constantly while boiling prevents lumps and scorching on the bottom of the pan, and the egg yolks can curdle if the heat is too harsh.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, butter):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Lemonthe original
  3. Raisinfits about as well
  4. 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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