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
Make the lemon cream
Beat the yolks of the eggs with the juice of 3 lemons and 1 cup of sugar.
Set the mixture over boiling water.
Stir until it thickens.
Pour the thickened mixture into a dish.
Finish and serve
Whip the egg whites to a stiff froth.
Flavor the whipped egg whites with the juice of 1 lemon and 1 tablespoon of sugar.
Heap the flavored egg whites over the cream and serve.
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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Egg + lemontop 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
- Eggs
- Yolks thicken the lemon mixture as they cook, and whipped whites give the topping its light, airy structure.
- Lemon juice
- Provides the sharp acidity that gives the cream its bright flavor.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cream and balances the tartness of the lemon juice.
The step that matters
Stir the cream over boiling water until it thickens. Egg yolks thicken as their proteins set with gentle heat. If the mixture gets too hot or is stirred too little, it can curdle or turn grainy, so it needs constant stirring and a steady, moderate heat over the water.
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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