Why it works: Lemon and sugar 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 ↓
Snow Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the jelly
Soak ½ box gelatine in a little cold water.
Add 1 pint boiling water, juice of 1 lemon, and 2 cups sugar; let cool.
Beat 3 egg whites to a stiff froth.
Add the beaten egg whites to the gelatine mixture and beat until light.
Pour into a mold and place on ice to harden.
Finish and serve
Make a custard with the yolks of 3 eggs; let it cool completely.
Once the jelly is turned out of the mold, pour the custard around it and serve.
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 + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Lemon + eggtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together44,316 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Lemon and sugar 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
- Gelatine
- Sets the liquid mixture into a firm, sliceable jelly.
- Egg whites
- Beaten to a foam, they lighten the jelly into a fluffy, airy texture.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the custard that is poured around the jelly, adding richness.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the jelly and balances the tartness of the lemon.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the sweet jelly's flavour.
The step that matters
Beating the egg whites into the gelatine mixture. Egg whites must be whipped to a stiff froth first, then folded or beaten into the gelatine while it is still liquid. If the gelatine has begun to set, it will not incorporate evenly and the airy texture is lost.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
- Datesfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, 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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