Why it works: Lemon and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 44,316 recipes. Both carry (e,e)-2,4-decadienal, which smells fatty, deep fried. The science ↓
Jam, Imitation
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the lemon
Cut off the yellow rind from the lemon, avoiding the white part.
Mince the rind as finely as possible.
Make the filling
In a saucepan, combine the minced rind, treacle, lemon juice, and beaten egg.
Boil gently for a few minutes, stirring constantly.
Allow to cool before using as a jam substitute for roly-poly puddings.
Store
Store in a jar, ensuring air is excluded for longer shelf life.
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 + eggtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together44,316 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
Lemon and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 44,316 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
- Treacle
- Provides sweetness and a rich, dark flavour that stands in for jam.
- Egg
- Thickens the mixture as it heats and binds it into a spreadable texture.
- Lemon
- Supplies the aromatic rind and the acidity that brightens the sweet treacle.
The step that matters
Boil gently while stirring constantly. The beaten egg can scramble or curdle if it overheats or sits still on the base of the pan. Gentle heat with constant stirring lets the egg thicken the mixture smoothly.
“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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