Skip to main content
Dessert

Peach Cream Pie

A pie filled with a peach custard and topped with meringue.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Peach and vanilla match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 558 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Peach Cream Pie

Ingredients

Directions

Make the peach layer

  1. Combine crushed peaches, sugar, flour, and salt in a saucepan.

  2. Cook over medium heat until thick, about 2 minutes.

  3. Remove from heat and stir in butter.

  4. Prepare a baked pie shell by sprinkling 1 teaspoon of flour in the bottom and rubbing it in.

  5. Pour the peach mixture into the prepared pie shell.

Make the cream filling

  1. Combine egg yolk and milk in a double boiler.

  2. Mix sugar and flour together, then add to the egg mixture.

  3. Cook the mixture in the double boiler, stirring constantly, until thick.

  4. Remove from heat and stir in butter and vanilla extract.

  5. Spread this cream filling over the peach mixture.

Top and bake

  1. Beat the egg white until stiff peaks form.

  2. Spread it over the top of the pie.

  3. Return the pie to the oven and bake for about 12 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.

  1. Peach + vanillatop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together558 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  2. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  3. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  5. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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

Crushed canned peaches
Provide the fruit flavor and moisture for the filling base.
Flour
Thickens the peach mixture and the cream filling as it cooks.
Egg yolk
Thickens the milk custard and adds richness to the cream filling.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard, which sets as it cooks.
Egg white
Whips into a stiff foam that forms the meringue topping.
Sugar
Sweetens the filling and helps the meringue hold its structure.

The step that matters

Cooking the cream filling in the double boiler. Egg yolk and starch thicken the custard gently, and constant stirring over moderate heat keeps the yolk from scrambling or curdling before it thickens smoothly.

Swap the peach

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

  1. Figfits about as well
  2. Coconutfits about as well
  3. Raisinfits about as well
  4. Peachthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, sugar, butter, egg, milk, vanilla, 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.

You might also like

Vanilla Ice CreamVanilla Ice Cream108 recipesPeach Ice CreamPeach Ice Cream64 recipesPeach FrittersPeach Fritters55 recipesPeach MeringuePeach Meringue40 recipes