Name: Marmalade Sauce
Ingredients: 1 tablespoon marmalade; Juice of 1 lemon; ½ cup water; 1 oz sugar; 2 tablespoons brandy

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 ↓

Marmalade Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

In a saucepan, combine the marmalade, water, and lemon juice.
Heat the mixture until very hot.
Stir in the brandy and serve.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together53,532 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar + brandytop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together11,939 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Lemon + brandytop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together5,351 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

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

Marmalade: Provides the main sweetness and bitter citrus flavor that defines the sauce.
Lemon juice: Adds acidity that brightens the flavor and balances the sweetness of the marmalade.
Brandy: Adds aromatic depth and a warm, boozy flavor when stirred in at the end.