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 ↓
Water Ices Generally
makes a quart of mixtureIngredients
Directions
Prepare the base
Rub the jams through a sieve.
Add thick boiled syrup and lemon juice to the sieved jams.
Incorporate some jelly and coloring.
Finish the water ice
For pink water ice, whip the egg white and add it to the mixture.
Combine with ½ pint of spring water to make a quart of mixture.
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).
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Syrup + lemontop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,235 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Syrup + eggtop 32% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,995 recipes
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
- Jams
- Provides the main fruit flavor and body of the base.
- Thick boiled syrup
- Adds sweetness and helps keep the ice smooth by limiting large ice crystals.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the fruit flavor.
- Jelly
- Adds concentrated fruit flavor and extra sweetness.
- Egg white
- Whipped, it traps air to give the pink water ice a lighter texture.
The step that matters
Adding the whipped egg white. Whipped egg white holds air in a foam that gives lightness. Stirring it in too vigorously or too long deflates the foam, so the ice turns denser and less airy.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (syrup, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Lemonthe original
- Raisinfits about as well
- Raspberryfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against syrup, egg. 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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