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 ↓
Lemonade, No. 1
Ingredients
Directions
Combine lemon juice, sugar, ice water, and pounded ice in a large glass.
Stir until the sugar is dissolved.
Add lemon slices for garnish.
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).
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
- Lemon juice
- Provides the sour acidity and bright citrus flavour that define the drink.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the drink and balances the sharpness of the lemon juice.
- Ice water
- Dilutes the concentrated juice and sugar while keeping the drink cold.
The step that matters
Stir until the sugar is dissolved. Sugar dissolves only when it is well mixed into the liquid. If stirring is cut short, undissolved grains settle at the bottom, leaving the drink uneven in sweetness and gritty near the end.
“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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