Why it works: Lemon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,318 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Lemon Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Sift together the sugar, corn starch, and salt.
Slowly add the boiling water while beating constantly.
Cook for five minutes.
Remove from heat and stir in the butter, lemon juice, and grated lemon rind.
Strain the sauce and add nutmeg if desired.
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.
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.
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Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,318 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Corn + nutmegtop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together563 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Corn + lemontop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,927 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Corn + buttertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,345 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
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Butter + nutmegtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together24,377 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Corn starch
- Thickens the sauce as it heats, giving it body.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth, glossy mouthfeel to the sauce.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the sweetness of the sugar.
The step that matters
Add the boiling water slowly while beating constantly. Adding the water gradually and beating keeps the starch dispersed so it does not form lumps. Pouring it in all at once can clump the starch, leaving a grainy, uneven sauce.
Swap the nutmeg
The recipe marks nutmeg as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, corn, butter, lemon):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegthe original
- Tarragonfits about as well
- Parsleyfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, corn, butter, lemon. 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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