Name: Lemon Custard
Ingredients: juice of 4 lemons; 3 ounces pounded loaf sugar; 1 lemon, grated peel; 2 ounces sugar; 1 quart cream

Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Lemon Custard

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Combine the juice of 4 lemons and 3 ounces of pounded loaf sugar in a deep dish.
Boil the grated peel of 1 lemon and 2 ounces of sugar in 1 quart of cream.

Make the custard

Pour the hot cream mixture over the lemon juice and sugar.
Stir well and let it cool.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together53,532 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Lemon + creamtop 30% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together15,640 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

Lemon juice: Provides the sharp acidity that defines the custard's flavor and helps it thicken as it cools.
Cream: Adds richness and fat, giving the custard a smooth, silky texture.
Sugar: Sweetens the custard and balances the sourness of the lemon juice.
Lemon peel: Contributes aromatic lemon oils that flavor the cream as it boils.