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Drink

Delicious Milk Lemonade

A chilled drink made by mixing boiled sugar water, lemon juice, sherry, and cold milk, then filtering.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Eliza Acton · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 4 ingredients
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Delicious Milk Lemonade

Why it works: Lemon and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,053 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Delicious Milk Lemonade

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Dissolve six ounces of loaf sugar in a pint of boiling water.

  2. Mix in a quarter of a pint of lemon juice.

  3. Add the same quantity of sherry.

  4. Add three-quarters of a pint of cold milk.

  5. Stir the whole well together.

  6. Pass it through a jelly-bag till clear.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

198Calories
8 gProtein
8 gFat
25 gCarbs

Counts 2 of 3 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 2 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Waternot in our table0

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

By Eliza Acton. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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 + milktop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,053 recipes

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

  2. Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together53,532 recipes

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

  3. Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 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

Loaf sugar
Sweetens the drink and balances the sharpness of the lemon juice.
Lemon juice
Provides the sour acidity that defines the drink and curdles the milk proteins.
Sherry (in the method)
Adds a dry, winey aroma and flavour.
Cold milk
Adds richness and softness; its proteins curdle in the acid and are strained out.

The step that matters

Adding the cold milk. Milk proteins curdle when they meet acid, forming curds. The jelly-bag catches these curds, which is why the drink becomes clear. If the milk is added too early or the mixture is not strained thoroughly, the lemonade stays cloudy.

Swap the lemon

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Peachfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, milk. 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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