Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Lemon Pie
2 ordinary-sized piesIngredients
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).
Squeeze the juice from the lemons and grate the rind of one lemon.
In a bowl, mix the yolks of 3 eggs, the white of 1 egg, 8 tablespoons of sugar, melted butter, lemon juice, and lemon rind.
Add 1 cup of sweet cream or milk and beat the mixture for 1-2 minutes.
Pour the mixture into a pie crust, enough for 2 ordinary-sized pies.
Bake and top with meringue
Bake until the pastry is done.
Meanwhile, beat the remaining egg whites to a stiff froth and gradually add 4 tablespoons of sugar.
Spread the meringue over the baked pies and return them to the oven.
Bake until the meringue is a delicate brown, being careful not to overbake.
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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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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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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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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Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Yolks thicken the filling as it bakes, and whites whip into the meringue for structure.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a tender texture to the filling.
- Lemon juice
- Provides the sharp acidity that defines the lemon flavour and helps set the filling.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and, in the meringue, stabilises the whipped egg whites.
- Sweet cream or milk
- Adds moisture and body, giving the filling a smooth, custard-like texture.
The step that matters
Avoid overbaking the meringue. Meringue sugar and egg proteins keep cooking past a light golden brown, becoming tough, weepy and sticky. Watch it closely and remove it once it is just delicately browned.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, butter, sugar, cream):
- Vanillafits better
- Strawberryfits about as well
- Raspberryfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, butter, sugar, cream. 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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