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 ↓
Lemon Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the lemon infusion
Cut the peel of 2 lemons very thin.
Pour ½ pint of boiling water over the lemon peel and ½ pound of loaf sugar.
Let the mixture stand for 1 hour.
Squeeze the juice of 3 lemons into the water.
Make the cream
Beat 3 egg whites and 1 egg yolk very well.
Mix the beaten eggs with the lemon mixture.
Strain the mixture into a saucepan.
Boil for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.
Pour into glasses while hot.
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
- Egg whites
- Beaten whites add foam and light structure that the cream sets around.
- Egg yolk
- Yolk thickens the mixture and gives the cream its richness when heated.
- Loaf sugar
- Sugar dissolves into the hot water to sweeten and balance the lemon's acidity.
- Lemon juice
- Juice supplies the sharp acidity and bright flavour of the cream.
The step that matters
Boil for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Egg proteins thicken as they heat, but if the mixture boils unevenly or is left unstirred, parts can scramble or curdle. Constant stirring keeps heat even so the cream thickens smoothly.
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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