Why it works: Lemon and orange 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 Roley Poley
Ingredients
Directions
Make the roll
Make a light paste as for apple dumplings.
Roll in oblong sheets, and lay oranges, peeled, sliced and seeded, thickly over it.
Sprinkle with white sugar.
Scatter a teaspoonful or two of the grated orange peel over all.
Roll up closely, folding down the ends securely, to keep the syrup from running out.
Cook in a cloth for one and one half hours.
Make the lemon sauce
Prepare lemon sauce: Six eggs, leaving out the whites of two, one half pound of butter, one pound sugar, juice of two lemons and rind of both grated.
Put in a tin pan over a slow fire.
Stir until it thickens like honey.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Orange | 1 medium (131g) | 62 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Lemon | juice of 1 lemon (48ml) | 12 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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. See the original page.
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.
-
Lemon + orangetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together10,634 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
-
Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
-
Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
-
Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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
What each ingredient does
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth, glossy texture to the sauce.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps give the sauce its syrupy body.
- Eggs
- Thicken the sauce as they heat gently, giving it a custard-like body.
- Lemons
- Add acidity and bright flavour to the sauce, and their rind adds aroma.
- Orange peel
- Adds fragrant citrus aroma to the filling inside the roll.
The step that matters
Stir the sauce over a slow fire until it thickens. Eggs thicken as their proteins set with gentle heat. Too much heat or too little stirring can scramble the eggs and leave the sauce lumpy.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, egg, lemon):
- Vanillafits about as well
- Orangethe original
- Raspberryfits about as well
- Figfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, egg, lemon. 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.
You might also like
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Lemon Cake228 recipes
Lemon Ice147 recipes
Orange Cream Rice Pudding121 recipesThe 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.