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. No. 2
Ingredients
Directions
Infuse the lemon
Pare the yellow peels of the lemons and put them into boiling water; let stand for 4 hours.
Remove the peels and add the lemon juice and sugar to the water.
Make the cream
Beat the egg yolks and mix them with the lemon mixture.
Strain the mixture through a fine cloth into a porcelain-lined saucepan.
Set the saucepan over low heat and stir continuously until thickened, but do not let it boil.
Remove from heat and let cool 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).
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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 yolks
- Thicken the mixture as they set gently with heat, giving the cream its body.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cream and balances the sharpness of the lemon.
- Lemons
- Provide the acidity and aroma; the peel infuses flavour into the water.
The step that matters
Thicken over low heat without boiling. Egg yolks begin to set around 70°C and can scramble if overheated or boiled, leaving curdled grains. Constant stirring over low heat spreads the heat evenly and lets the custard thicken 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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