Why it works: Lemon and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 53,532 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Snow Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Make the jelly
Dissolve the gelatine in nearly 1 quart of boiling water.
Add the juice of 5 lemons and enough sugar to sweeten to taste.
Strain the mixture and set aside until nearly cool.
Whip and set
Beat the whites of 5 eggs and whip them into the jelly.
Turn the mixture into a mold and let it stand until cool.
Once solid, turn out the jelly and decorate with pieces of red jelly.
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.
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.
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Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Lemon + eggtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together44,316 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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
- Gelatine
- Sets the liquid into a firm jelly as it cools.
- Whites of 5 eggs
- Whipped into the jelly to create a light, airy foam texture.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that gives the jelly a bright, sharp flavor.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the jelly to balance the sourness of the lemon juice.
The step that matters
Whip the egg whites into the jelly. The jelly must be nearly cool and beginning to thicken before the whites are added. If it is too warm, the whites deflate and the foam collapses instead of holding its volume.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
- Datesfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, 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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