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 ↓
Roasted Peanut Dragees
Ingredients
Directions
Remove any waste and small pieces from the peanuts by thoroughly sifting them.
Coat the peanuts with gum twice.
Roast the peanuts, taking the same precautions as with parching almonds.
Flavor the dragees with essence of lemon or lime.
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).
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Peanut + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together341 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Peanut + sugartop 27% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,545 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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
Swap the peanut
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, lemon):
- Chickpeafits better
- Pistachiofits better
- Milletfits better
- Peanutthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, lemon. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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