Why it works: Lemon and orange 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 ↓
Fine Whisked or Whipped Syllabub
Ingredients
Directions
Whip the syllabub
In a large bowl, combine the cream, mountain wine, lemon juice, orange juice, brandy, orange-flower water, and powdered sugar.
Whisk or whip the mixture until frothy.
As the froth rises, spoon it off and place it on an inverted sieve to drain.
If the froth does not rise well, add the egg whites and continue whisking.
Serve
Once whipped sufficiently, spoon some liquid into syllabub glasses, grate a little nutmeg on top, and fill with froth.
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 + orangetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together10,634 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Wine + brandytop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,427 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Wine + lemontop 13% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,157 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Wine + orangetop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,046 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cream
- Provides the rich body and fat that whip into a stable, airy froth.
- Mountain wine
- Adds sweetness and body to the liquid base beneath the froth.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the flavour and balances the sweetness and cream.
- Brandy
- Adds alcoholic warmth and aroma to the flavour of the base.
- Egg whites
- Help build and stabilise the froth when it does not rise well on its own.
The step that matters
Spooning off the froth as it rises. Froth that is left too long collapses back into the liquid, so it should be removed as it forms and drained on a sieve so the syllabub keeps its light texture.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, wine, lemon, brandy, sugar, egg):
- Vanillafits about as well
- Raspberryfits about as well
- Orangethe original
- Apricotfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against cream, wine, lemon, brandy, 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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