Why it works: Bread and orange are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,084 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓
Toast Water
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Remove the crust from the stale bread slice.
Toast the bread on both sides.
Steep and strain
Place the toast and the orange or lemon peel in a suitable vessel.
Add 2 cups of boiling water and cover.
Strain the mixture when it has cooled.
Serve
Serve as a soothing drink, especially during fever.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Bread + orangetop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,084 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Stale bread
- Toasting browns the bread, adding a mild, nutty flavor and color to the water.
- Orange or lemon peel
- Its citrus oils add a bright, aromatic fragrance to the drink.
- Boiling water
- Hot water extracts flavor and aroma from the toast and peel.
The step that matters
Add the boiling water and cover. Covering the vessel while the mixture steeps keeps volatile aroma compounds from escaping with the steam, so the drink tastes fuller.
“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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