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 ↓
Oatmeal Tea
Ingredients
Directions
Place the oatmeal in a jug.
Pour the boiling water over the oatmeal.
Add the lemon rind and juice, and the sugar.
Cover the jug and let it sit near the fire for at least 1 hour.
Strain the tea 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.
-
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
- Coarse oatmeal
- Steeps into the water to give the tea its body and flavour.
- Lemon
- Its juice adds acidity and its rind adds aromatic oils to the tea.
- Loaf sugar
- Adds sweetness to balance the sharpness of the lemon.
The step that matters
Letting the tea steep. Oatmeal needs time in hot water for its starch and flavour to release into the liquid. Steeping for the full hour, covered, keeps the heat in and gives a fuller tea.
“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.
You might also like
Lemon Whey33 recipes
Lemon Wine31 recipes
Lemon Squash10 recipes
Lemon Essence8 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.