Why it works: Lemon and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,227 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓
Barley-suoar
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the syrup
In a pot, combine the sugar and spring water.
Add the egg white to clarify the mixture as directed in previous recipes.
Boil the mixture until it thickens and begins to whiten.
Stir in the lemon juice and boil quickly until it reaches the desired consistency.
Optionally, add a few drops of lemon essence just before removing from heat.
Shape and use
Pour the mixture onto a marble slab or a shallow dish greased with oil or butter.
When the edges start to harden, shape it into sticks, lozenges, or balls as desired.
Use the liquid for various purposes like Chantilly baskets or bonbons.
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 + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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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).
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
- Sugar
- Forms the bulk of the candy and sets firm as the syrup cools.
- Egg white
- Clarifies the syrup, collecting impurities so the candy stays clear.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that helps prevent crystallisation, keeping the candy smooth.
The step that matters
Boil to the desired consistency. Boiling the syrup to the right concentration determines whether the candy sets firm or stays soft. Too little boiling leaves it sticky; too much makes it brittle or grainy as it cools.
Swap the lemon
The recipe marks lemon as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, butter):
- Vanillafits better
- Lemonthe original
- Raisinfits about as well
- Figfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, butter. 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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