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Dessert

Rhubarb Custard Pie

A pie filled with a custard-like rhubarb mixture topped with meringue.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 118,967 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓

Rhubarb Custard Pie

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the custard base

  1. Combine water and 1 cup sugar in a saucepan. Bring to a boil.

  2. Add cornstarch and butter, stir until thickened and smooth.

  3. Add rhubarb, cook gently until tender but not mushy, stirring little.

  4. Remove from heat and cool to lukewarm by placing saucepan in cold water.

Assemble and bake

  1. Beat 2 egg yolks and 1 whole egg until light, fold into rhubarb mixture.

  2. Pour mixture into baked pie shell, bake at 350°F for 10–15 minutes.

  3. Prepare meringue with remaining 2 egg whites per Ice Water Meringue recipe.

  4. Spread meringue on top, bake 12–15 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. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Sugar + rhubarbtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,852 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

  4. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

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

  5. Butter + rhubarbtop 27% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together673 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Cornstarch
Thickens the liquid into a smooth, sliceable custard when heated.
Eggs
Enrich the custard and help it set as it bakes, giving body and richness.
Rhubarb
Provides the tart flavour and fruit that the custard is built around.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard and balances the sharp flavour of the rhubarb.
Butter
Adds fat for a richer mouthfeel and smoother texture in the custard.

The step that matters

Cool the rhubarb mixture to lukewarm before adding the eggs. Eggs added to a very hot starch mixture can scramble or curdle, and the cornstarch thickening can be disrupted. Cooling to lukewarm lets the eggs blend in smoothly and set evenly in the oven.

Swap the rhubarb

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Capersfits better
  4. Rhubarbthe original

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