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 ↓
Ortigade, or Lemonade
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the flavours
Squeeze the juice from the lemons.
Pour boiling water over the lemon peel.
Cover the mixture tightly.
Make the syrup
Boil water with sugar to create a thin syrup.
Skim the syrup.
Let everything cool.
Combine and serve
Mix the lemon juice, the infusion, and the syrup.
Add enough additional water to create a rich sherbet.
Strain through a jelly bag before serving.
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
- Lemons
- Provide the juice and acidity that give the drink its tart flavour.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the drink and, dissolved into syrup, balances the lemon's sourness.
- Lemon peel
- Contributes aromatic oils that flavour the infused water.
The step that matters
Add enough additional water to create a rich sherbet. The amount of water sets the balance of sweetness, acidity and body. Too little leaves the drink syrupy and overly strong, while too much dilutes the lemon flavour and sugar, so the cook should adjust gradually and taste as they go.
“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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