Name: Orange and Lemon Ice
Ingredients: one pint of this on a pound of sugar; one pint of lemon; a pint of water; a pound of sugar; three oranges grated; half frozen add the whites of four eggs beaten to a stiff froth; four eggs beaten to a stiff froth

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 and Lemon Ice

Ingredients

one pint of this on a pound of sugar
one pint of lemon
a pint of water
a pound of sugar
three oranges grated
half frozen add the whites of four eggs beaten to a stiff froth
four eggs beaten to a stiff froth

Directions

Prepare the mixture

Grate the rinds of three oranges and steep them for a few moments in a little more than a pint of water.
Strain one pint of the orange infusion over a pound of sugar.
Add one pint of lemon juice to the mixture.

Freeze and finish

Pour the mixture into the freezer.
When the mixture is half frozen, add the whites of four eggs beaten to a stiff froth.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

201Calories

8 gProtein

6 gFat

32 gCarbs

Counts 4 of 5 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 4 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
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
Water	not in our table	0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Goff, May Perrin, [from old catalog] ed. 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. 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 pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together10,634 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together53,532 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Lemon + eggtop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together44,316 recipes

Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
Sugar + orangetop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together19,212 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together122,807 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

Egg whites: Beaten to a stiff froth, they add air and a light, fluffy texture to the frozen ice.
Sugar: Sweetens the ice and lowers its freezing point, keeping it softer and scoopable.
Lemon juice: Adds acidity and sharp citrus flavour that balances the sweetness.
Orange rind infusion: Steeping the grated rind in water carries orange aroma and flavour into the ice.

The step that matters

Adding the egg whites when half frozen. Whites must be beaten to a stiff froth and folded in while the mixture is only partly frozen. If it is fully solid, the foam cannot blend in, and if it is too liquid, the air escapes and the texture turns dense.

Swap the orange

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

Orangethe original
Vanillafits about as well
Limefits less well
Raisinfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, lemon, egg. 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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Orange and Lemon Ice