Why it works: Sugar and lemon 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 ↓
Italian Confectioner
Ingredients
Directions
Boil sugar in a clean copper pan, using a damp sponge to keep the edges free from bubbles.
When the sugar reaches a crack stage, add a drop or two of lemon juice to prevent crystallization.
Remove the pan from heat and let it cool slightly.
Use a spoon or a four-pronged tool to dip into the sugar and test for thread formation.
Spin the sugar inside the mold, ensuring it forms threads without dropping.
Strengthen the inside with any sugar that falls outside.
Remove the mold while warm and place it back to cool and hold its shape.
Once cool, decorate with spun sugar threads on a knife, napkin, or tin plate.
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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Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and lemon 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
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