Why it works: Lemon and white wine are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,832 recipes. Both carry myrcene, which smells balsamic, herbaceous. The science ↓
Lemon Custards
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard base
Combine sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest, boiled lemon rind, and white wine in a pot.
Boil the mixture for a while.
Remove the lemon peel and set aside a little of the liquid to cool.
Pour the remaining mixture into a dish.
Add the eggs and set
Beat the egg yolks and egg whites.
Mix the beaten eggs with the cooled liquid.
Strain the mixture into the dish.
Stir the strained mixture well.
Place the dish over a slow fire in boiling water.
Once set, grate lemon zest over the top.
Optionally brown the grated zest with a salamander.
Serve hot or cold.
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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Lemon + white winetop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,832 recipes
Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).
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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).
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Sugar + white winetop 30% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,586 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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 custard and helps give it a smooth, thick body.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken and set the custard as they cook, giving it a rich texture.
- Egg whites
- Add structure and help the custard set light and tender when beaten in.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity and bright lemon flavour that balances the sugar.
- White wine
- Adds liquid and acidity, contributing to the custard's flavour.
The step that matters
Placing the dish over boiling water on a slow fire. Eggs thicken with gentle, indirect heat. Too much heat makes the egg proteins tighten and curdle, leaving the custard grainy instead of smooth and set.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, white wine, egg):
- Vanillafits about as well
- Lemonthe original
- Applefits less well
- Plumfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, white wine, 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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