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 ↓
Arrow Root
Ingredients
Directions
Mix the arrow-root with a little water to form a paste.
Boil 1 pint of water in a pot.
Pour the arrow-root paste into the boiling water and let it boil until clear.
Strain the mixture and sweeten to taste.
Add a little lemon juice if desired.
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).
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
- Ground arrow-root
- Thickens the water as its starch swells and turns the drink clear and smooth.
The step that matters
Let the mixture boil until clear. Arrow-root starch must be fully boiled to swell and thicken properly; stopping early leaves a cloudy, starchy taste and weak body.
“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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