Why it works: Orange and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 20% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,212 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Orangeade
Ingredients
Directions
Juice the sour orange and mix with boiling water and sugar.
If the orange is not very sour, add a little lemon juice or reduce the sugar.
Serve over ice with the sliced orange.
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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Orange + sugartop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together19,212 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Orange and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 19,212 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
- Sour orange
- Provides the tart citrus juice and aroma that give the drink its character.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness that balances the sourness of the juice, and dissolves readily in hot water.
The step that matters
Balance the sweetness and sourness. Oranges vary in acidity, so the balance of tartness and sugar changes from fruit to fruit. Tasting before serving and adjusting with lemon juice or less sugar keeps the drink from being too sharp or too sweet.
“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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