Why it works: Orange and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,634 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓
Grosse -meringue with Pistachios
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a very slow oven”. The 300°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the meringue paste as directed in recipe No. 1298.
Cut six circular pieces of parchment paper to the size of a dinner plate.
On each piece of paper, draw a thick circle about 5 inches in diameter.
Using a dessert spoon, mold the meringue paste into small elongated ovals and place them closely together on the circle to form a wreath.
Repeat for the remaining five pieces of paper.
Cover the meringues with sifted sugar, shake off the excess, and place them on square boards.
Bake in a very light color in a slow oven (300°F / 150°C).
Once done, turn the meringue wreaths upside down on plates, sprinkle with sifted sugar, and let them dry in a very slow oven.
Before serving, stack the meringue wreaths with a layer of apricot jam between each, and fill the center with whipped cream flavored with orange-flower liqueur.
Garnish with strawberries and serve with lemon or orange quarters filled with jelly.
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.
-
Orange + lemontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together10,634 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
-
Apricot + orangetop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together703 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
-
Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
-
Apricot + lemontop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,098 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Sugar + apricottop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,630 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the apricot
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, cream, orange, lemon):
- Vanillafits better
- Limefits better
- Raspberryfits better
- Apricotthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, cream, orange, lemon. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
You might also like
The free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Lemon Cake228 recipes
Lemon Ice147 recipes
Orange Cream Rice Pudding121 recipes