Why it works: Nutmeg and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,318 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Fresh Peach 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
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Line a pie pan with a flaky pie crust and sprinkle flour on the bottom.
In a bowl, blend the flour and sugar together.
Fill and bake
Mix the flour and sugar with the peaches, then add lemon juice and melted butter, and mix well.
Pour the peach mixture into the pie shell.
Cover with the top crust and bake for 35 minutes or until golden brown.
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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Nutmeg + lemontop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,318 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Nutmeg + flourtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Peach + nutmegtop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together342 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Peach + lemontop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together947 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Sliced fresh peaches
- Provide the main fruit filling and its flavor and bulk.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the peaches release juice that thickens into the filling.
- Flour
- Thickens the peach juices so the filling sets rather than running out of the pie.
- Melted butter
- Adds fat for richness and a smoother mouthfeel in the filling.
The step that matters
Covering and baking the filled pie. Flour must be well mixed through the juicy peaches so it can thicken the juices as they heat. Baking until golden brown ensures the crust sets and the filling bubbles through, which keeps the slices from running.
Swap the peach
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (nutmeg, sugar, lemon, flour, butter):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Peachthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against nutmeg, sugar, lemon, flour, 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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