Everlasting Syllabubs

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.

1. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together43,450 recipes

   Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

2. Wine + lemontop 13% of all pairs
   Smell alikelow
   Cooked together6,157 recipes

   Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

3. Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairs
   Smell alikelow
   Cooked together53,532 recipes

   Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

4. Cream + winetop 19% of all pairs
   Smell alikelow
   Cooked together3,887 recipes

   Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

5. Cream + lemontop 30% of all pairs
   Smell alikelow
   Cooked together15,640 recipes

   Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

Thick cream

Forms the rich, airy body of the syllabub.

Rhenish wine

Adds liquid and flavour to thin the cream base.

Sack

Adds alcohol and aroma, contributing to the drink's character.

Lemons

Juice adds acidity and rind adds aroma to balance the sweetness.

Loaf sugar

Sweetens the mixture and balances the lemon's acidity.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, wine, sugar):

1. Vanillafits better
2. Strawberryfits better
3. Raspberryfits better
4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cream, wine, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.