Why it works: Sugar and syrup match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,842 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Lemon Wine
Ingredients
Directions
Steep the peels
Pare the lemons and place the peels in a gallon of brandy.
Let them stand for 14 days.
Make the syrup and water
Make a syrup by mixing the juice of the lemons with 2 pounds of lump sugar.
Boil 10 gallons of water with 40 pounds of lump sugar for 30 minutes.
Combine and age
Once cooled, combine the boiled water, brandy, lemon peels, and syrup in a tub.
Beat the egg whites to a froth and mix them with the cold water before adding to the mixture.
Transfer the mixture into a cask, seal it tightly, and let it stand for 6 months.
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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Sugar + syruptop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,842 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Brandy + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,340 recipes
Shared aroma: acetoin (butter, cream).
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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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Brandy + sugartop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together11,939 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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
- Lemons
- Peels give aroma and oils; juice adds acidity and brightness.
- Brandy
- Extracts the aromatic oils from the peels and adds alcohol that helps preserve the wine.
- Lump sugar
- Provides sweetness and body, balancing the acidity of the lemon juice.
- Egg whites
- Help clarify the wine by binding fine particles so they settle out.
The step that matters
Beating and mixing the egg whites. The egg whites must be frothed and blended into cold water before being added, so they disperse evenly and can bind suspended particles for clearing rather than clumping.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (brandy, sugar, syrup, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Apricotfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against brandy, sugar, syrup, 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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