Why it works: Lemon and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 53,532 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Lemon Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the lemons
Thinly peel the rind from the lemons and squeeze the juice, straining it.
Combine the lemon juice and rind in a quart of water and sweeten to taste.
Make the custard
Beat the egg whites until frothy and add them to the mixture.
Heat the mixture over low heat, stirring constantly until it thickens, but do not let it boil.
Pour the mixture into a bowl and let it cool, then strain it through a sieve.
Return the strained mixture to the heat and add the egg yolks, stirring until thick.
Serve
Serve in glasses.
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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Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Lemon + eggtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together44,316 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Lemon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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
- Egg whites
- Foam when beaten and help the mixture set lightly and thicken with gentle heat.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the mixture as they heat and add richness and a smooth, creamy body.
- Lemons
- Provide the main acidity and fresh aroma, with the rind adding fragrant oils.
- Sugar
- Balances the sharp acidity of the lemon juice and rounds out the flavor.
The step that matters
Heat the mixture over low heat without boiling. Egg proteins set gently and thicken the mixture at moderate heat, but boiling can curdle the eggs and leave a grainy texture.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
- Datesfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, 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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