Why it works: Sugar and lemon 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 Sherbet
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
In a clean basin, bring 2 quarts of water and 1 pint of sugar to a boil, cooking until clear and skimming if necessary.
Combine and freeze
Squeeze the juice from 6 lemons and grate a little of the yellow peel into the juice.
Dissolve 1 tablespoon of gelatin in ¼ cup of cold water, heating it over a kettle.
Once the syrup is clear, pour it into the lemon juice along with the dissolved gelatin, then cool and freeze.
Alternatively, use the beaten whites of 2 eggs instead of gelatin for a creamier texture.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Sugar + lemontop 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).
Sugar and lemon 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
- Sugar
- Sweetens the sherbet and balances the sharpness of the lemon juice.
- Lemons
- Provide the acidic juice and aromatic peel that give the sherbet its flavour.
- Gelatin
- Sets the mixture and gives it a body that holds its shape when frozen.
- Egg whites
- Add air and a creamier, lighter texture as an alternative to gelatin.
The step that matters
Dissolve the gelatin fully before combining. Gelatin must be completely dissolved in the warm liquid; undissolved granules leave gritty or rubbery spots and uneven setting in the frozen sherbet.
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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