Why it works: Lemon and nutmeg 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 ↓
To Make Syllabub
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syllabub
In a bowl, combine the cream, sweet wine, brandy, sifted sugar, and lemon juice.
Whisk the mixture well until frothy.
If the mixture does not froth well, add rennet or egg whites.
Assemble and serve
Remove the froth with a spoon and set it aside on a large sieve.
Fill glasses three-quarters full with the liquid mixture.
Sprinkle a little grated nutmeg on top and add the reserved froth.
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 + nutmegtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,318 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Wine + brandytop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,427 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Cream + nutmegtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,920 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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Wine + lemontop 13% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,157 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Heavy cream
- Provides the rich body and fat that whisk into a thick, stable froth.
- Sweet wine
- Adds sweetness and liquid that flavours the cream and softens its richness.
- Brandy
- Adds alcohol flavour and aroma, and helps keep the mixture from tasting flat.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the sweet cream and wine and sharpens the flavour.
The step that matters
Whisking until frothy. Cream must be whisked to trap air in its fat and protein network to form froth. Under-whisking gives little foam, and over-whisking can turn the cream grainy or buttery, so check the texture as you go.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, wine, brandy, sugar, nutmeg, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits about as well
- Raisinfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against cream, wine, brandy, 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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