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Lemon Jelly Filling

A sweet lemon-flavored jelly used as a filling.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and corn are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,927 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Lemon Jelly Filling

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Boil 1 cup of water.

  2. Add 2 cups of sugar, 1 tablespoon of butter, 3 egg yolks, grated rind and juice of 2 lemons.

  3. Boil for 3 minutes.

  4. Stir in 1 tablespoon of corn starch.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Lemon + corntop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,927 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  2. Butter + corntop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,345 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

  3. Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,227 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  4. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Thicken the filling as they cook and add richness to the custard.
Sugar
Sweetens the filling and adds body to the mixture.
Lemon juice
Adds sharp acidity that balances the sweetness.
Lemon rind
Adds concentrated lemon aroma and flavour.
Butter
Adds fat for a smoother, richer texture.
Corn starch
Thickens the liquid into a set, glossy filling when boiled.

The step that matters

Boil for 3 minutes. Egg yolks can curdle or scramble if overheated, so the mixture needs steady, controlled heat. Corn starch only thickens fully once the liquid reaches a boil, so the filling must be hot enough to set.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, egg, corn):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Coconutfits better
  3. Figfits about as well
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, egg, corn. 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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