Why it works: Orange and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,634 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓
Orange Hash
Ingredients
Directions
Cut a hole in the stem end of an orange large enough to fit a spoon.
Scoop out the inside of the orange.
Chop the oranges, bananas, lemons, apples, raisins, and pineapples into small bits.
Mix the chopped fruit with nutmeg and sugar.
Fill the hollowed orange with the fruit mixture.
Pour a little champagne or other wine into the orange.
Freeze the filled orange until solid.
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.
-
Orange + lemontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together10,634 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
-
Banana + pineappletop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together733 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
-
Banana + appletop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together435 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
-
Apple + pineappletop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together530 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
-
Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,318 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the raisin
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (orange, banana, lemon, apple, pineapple, nutmeg, sugar):
- Figfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Pearfits better
- Raisinthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against orange, banana, lemon, apple, pineapple, nutmeg, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
You might also like
The free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Apple Pudding256 recipes
Lemon Cake228 recipes
Lemon Ice147 recipes