Why it works: Sugar and lemon 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 ↓
Eoo Lemonade
Ingredients
Directions
Make the drink
Beat the egg with the sugar until very light.
Stir in the cold water and lemon juice.
Serve
Fill a glass with pounded ice and pour the mixture over it.
Drink through a straw.
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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Sugar + lemontop 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).
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
- Egg
- Beaten air and protein give the drink a light, frothy body.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the drink and helps the beaten egg hold its airy texture.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity and a sharp, fresh tang.
- Cold water
- Thins the mixture and dilutes its strength for a drinkable texture.
- Pounded ice
- Chills the drink quickly and dilutes it slightly as it melts.
The step that matters
Beat the egg with the sugar until very light. Beating incorporates air into the egg and dissolves the sugar, creating a foam that gives the drink its light body. If beaten too briefly, the egg stays dense and the drink feels heavy and flat.
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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