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Drink

Orange Water-ice

A chilled beverage made from water, orange juice, lemon juice, egg whites, sugar, and ice.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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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 Water-ice

Ingredients

Directions

Make the mixture

  1. Melt the sugar in the water.

  2. Add the juice of the oranges and lemons, then the beaten egg whites.

Freeze

  1. Prepare a large dish of crushed ice in a coarse linen bag.

  2. Place the can straight in the ice, layering it with coarse salt.

  3. Pour in the mixture and cover it.

  4. Turn the can slowly for 20 to 25 minutes until frozen.

  5. Once stiff, pour off excess water, remove the paddle, and smooth with a spoon.

  6. Add more ice and salt, pouring off any water.

  7. If using a mold, pack well and cover with paper under the lid.

  8. Rub butter around the crack to prevent salt and ice from touching.

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.

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.

  1. Orange + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,634 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  2. Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together53,532 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Lemon + eggtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together44,316 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

  4. Orange + sugartop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together19,212 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

Egg whites
Whipped proteins add lightness and a smoother, airier texture to the frozen ice.
Sugar
Sweetens the ice and lowers its freezing point, keeping it softer and scoopable.
Orange juice
Provides the main flavor and acidity, along with liquid that forms the ice crystals.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that sharpens the citrus flavor and balances the sweetness.

The step that matters

Turn the can slowly for 20 to 25 minutes until frozen. Constant gentle turning keeps small ice crystals forming while the mixture freezes, giving a smooth texture. Stopping or turning too fast lets large crystals grow and makes the ice grainy.

Swap the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lemon, egg, sugar):

  1. Orangethe original
  2. Vanillafits about as well
  3. Limefits less well
  4. Raisinfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against lemon, egg, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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