Why it works: Nutmeg and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,318 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Cream Soda Without the Fountain
Ingredients
Directions
Make the base
Mix coffee sugar, water, nutmegs, egg whites, gum arabic, and oil of lemon in a pot.
Place over gentle heat and stir for about 30 minutes.
Remove from heat and strain the mixture.
Divide the mixture into two parts.
Finish and serve
Add 8 ounces of bicarbonate of soda to one half and 6 ounces of tartaric acid to the other half.
Shake both mixtures well and let them cool.
To serve, pour 3 or 4 spoonfuls from each part into separate glasses filled one-third with water.
Stir each glass and then pour them together to enjoy your cream soda.
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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Nutmeg + lemontop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,318 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Nutmeg + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together24,744 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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Coffee + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,344 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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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).
Nutmeg and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 24,744 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
- Egg whites
- Whipped proteins that help create a foamy, light body in the syrup.
- Gum arabic
- Stabilises the foam and gives the drink a smooth, full mouthfeel.
- Bicarbonate of soda
- Reacts with the tartaric acid to release carbon dioxide, creating fizz.
- Tartaric acid
- Reacts with the bicarbonate of soda to release carbon dioxide, creating fizz and tartness.
- Coffee sugar
- Provides sweetness and the body of the syrup.
The step that matters
Mixing the two halves separately before serving. Bicarbonate and tartaric acid must stay apart until serving, because together they react and release carbon dioxide. Mixing them early would lose the fizz, so each half is kept separate until the glass is poured.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (coffee, sugar, nutmeg, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against coffee, sugar, nutmeg, 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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