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Dessert

Lemon Dumplings

Dumplings made from bread crumbs, beef suet, sugar, eggs, lemon zest and juice, boiled for two hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Bread and beef are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,032 recipes. Both carry 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline, which smells popcorn, roasted. The science ↓

Lemon Dumplings

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the dumplings

  1. In a bowl, combine grated bread crumbs, beef suet, and sugar.

  2. Add the beaten eggs, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Mix well.

  3. Divide the mixture into five portions.

  4. Place one portion in the center of a large cloth and tie securely.

  5. Place the remaining portions in each corner of the cloth and tie.

Cook and serve

  1. Boil the dumplings in water for two hours.

  2. Serve with sauce.

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.

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. Bread + beeftop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  2. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

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

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

  4. Egg + lemontop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together44,316 recipes

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

  5. Bread + lemontop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,445 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

Grated bread crumbs
Form the bulk of the dumpling and absorb the liquid to hold its shape.
Beef suet
Adds fat that keeps the dumplings moist and rich as they cook.
Eggs
Bind the mixture together so it holds its shape during boiling.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the flavour of the dumplings.

The step that matters

Tying the cloth. The cloth must be tied firmly so the dumplings keep their shape and water cannot soak in while they boil; loose ties let the mixture break apart or turn waterlogged.

Swap the lemon

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Figfits about as well
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, beef, 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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