Why it works: Orange and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 20% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,212 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Scotch Marmalade
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fruit
Use equal parts of oranges and sugar, slightly more sugar than oranges.
Cut the oranges in half, squeeze out the juice, and strain to remove any seeds.
Boil the peels in water until tender, then drain and scoop out the pulp, leaving thin rinds.
Slice the rinds into thin fillets.
Cook the marmalade
Boil the sugar with the orange juice, skimming off any foam.
When the mixture reaches the 'Feather' stage, add the sliced peels and finish cooking like other jams.
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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Orange + sugartop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together19,212 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Orange and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 19,212 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
- Oranges
- Supply the juice for the set and the peel that gives marmalade its bitter flavour and texture.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the marmalade and, when boiled with the juice, thickens it into a preserve.
The step that matters
Stopping at the 'Feather' stage. Sugar syrup must reach the right concentration before the peel goes in. Too little cooking leaves the marmalade runny, while overcooking makes it hard and sugary as it cools.
“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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