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 or Orange Icing
Ingredients
Directions
Sift the icing sugar through a fine sieve.
Combine the icing sugar and juice in a pan.
Mix well until the mixture is liquid.
Gently warm the mixture over low heat and use immediately.
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
- Icing sugar
- Provides sweetness and body, dissolving into the juice to form a smooth glaze.
- Lemon or orange juice
- Thins the sugar into a pourable liquid and adds citrus acidity and aroma.
The step that matters
Gently warm the mixture over low heat. Excess heat can make the icing thin, grainy or cloudy, and it sets quickly as it cools, so gentle warming and immediate use keep it smooth and glossy.
“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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