Why it works: Sugar and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and 53,532 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Home Recipe Book
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the stock
Boil 2 calves’ feet with a little salt for 5 hours in two quarts of water.
Strain and leave overnight, then skim all fat off.
Make the jelly
Put the stock on with 6 ozs loaf sugar, 3 egg whites and shells, juice and rind of 3 lemons, a few cloves, and ^ pint of wine.
Whisk all together until it comes to the boil.
Simmer 15 minutes.
Clarify and strain
Draw aside and stand for 15 minutes.
Add ^ pint of wine, strain through a flannel bag.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
-
Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Egg + lemontop 19% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together44,316 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
-
Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and lemon share little aroma chemistry, yet 53,532 recipes mention both: they likely 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
- Calves' feet
- Its collagen, extracted by long simmering, sets the stock into a jelly as it cools.
- Egg whites
- Whites trap and bind impurities that rise to the surface, clearing the stock.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the stock, balancing the sharpness of the lemon.
- Lemons
- Juice adds acidity and aroma; rind adds fragrance to the stock.
The step that matters
Whisking the whites into the stock. Whisk the whites into the cold stock before heating. As it warms they set into a raft that traps impurities; disturbing it once it forms clouds the jelly.
Flavor stand-ins for the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg):
- Vanillabetter flavor fit
- Raisinabout as good a flavor fit
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
“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
Lemon Cake228 recipes
Lemon Ice147 recipes
Lemon Sherbet103 recipes
Lemon Custard64 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 for sign-in; Pro adds the full results and chemistry.