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 ↓
Lemon Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Strain the juice of 2 lemons and grate the rind of 1 lemon.
In a bowl, beat the 4 egg whites and 1 egg yolk very slightly.
Make the cream
Stir in the powdered sugar, lemon juice, and water.
Set the mixture over moderate heat and stir until it thickens.
Pour into glasses before it cools.
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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Egg + sugartop 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
- Egg whites
- Provide structure and body that help the mixture thicken and set as it heats.
- Egg yolk
- Adds richness and helps thicken the cream as it heats.
- Lemon juice
- Provides the sharp acidity that gives the cream its bright flavour.
- Powdered sugar
- Sweetens the cream and balances the acidity of the lemon juice.
The step that matters
Set the mixture over moderate heat and stir until it thickens. Egg proteins thicken when heated, but if the heat is too high or stirring stops, they can curdle or scramble. Keep the heat moderate and stir constantly so the cream thickens smoothly.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
- Datesfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against 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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