Why it works: Butter and lemon 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 ↓
Lemon Butter
Ingredients
Directions
Make the mixture
In a bowl, beat together the sugar, egg whites, and egg yolk.
In a separate bowl, cream the butter until smooth.
Grate the yellow part of the lemons and add it to the butter mixture.
Squeeze in the lemon juice and mix well.
Cook and cool
Cook the mixture in a double boiler for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Transfer to a jar and let cool.
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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Butter + lemontop 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
- Eggs
- Egg proteins thicken the mixture as they gently heat, giving it body.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps give the curd a smooth, glossy body.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, making the mixture smooth and creamy.
- Lemon juice
- Provides the sharp acidity that defines the lemon flavour.
- Lemon zest
- Adds aroma from the fragrant oils in the yellow peel.
The step that matters
Cook in a double boiler, stirring occasionally. Egg proteins set gently at moderate heat. If the mixture gets too hot, the eggs can scramble and turn grainy, so gentle, steady heat and regular stirring keep it smooth.
Swap the lemon
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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