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Dessert

Lemon Sherbet

A chilled lemon dessert made with lemon juice, sugar, water, and egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Ramblers' club, Minneapolis. [from old catalog] · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Lemon Sherbet

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 ↓

Lemon Sherbet

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Boil 2 quarts hot water and 1 quart sugar for 10 minutes.

  2. Let cool and add the juice of 8 lemons.

  3. Strain, add the well beaten egg whites, then put into the freezer.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

253Calories
8 gProtein
6 gFat
45 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Orange1 medium (131g)62
Maple Syrup1 tbsp (20ml)52
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Lemonjuice 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.

By Ramblers' club, Minneapolis. [from old catalog]. 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.

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.

  1. Lemon + orangetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,634 recipes

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

  2. Maple syrup + sugartop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,252 recipes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lemons
Juice provides the sharp acidity and bright flavour that define the sherbet.
Sugar
Dissolves into the boiled syrup to add sweetness and soften the frozen texture.
Eggs
Beaten whites trap air, adding lightness to the frozen texture.

The step that matters

Adding the beaten egg whites before freezing. Beaten egg whites hold air in a foam that gives sherbet its light texture. They should be well beaten and mixed in gently and evenly, so the foam is not collapsed and the mixture freezes with an even, airy body.

Swap the orange

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Orangethe original
  3. Pumpkinfits about as well
  4. Blueberryfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against maple syrup, 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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