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Dessert

Lemon Mould

A chilled lemon gelatin dessert made with lemon rind, juice, eggs, sugar, and gelatin.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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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 ↓

Lemon Mould

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Rub the sugar on the lemons to remove the rind.

  2. In a saucepan, combine the lemon juice, gelatine, and cold water.

Make the mixture

  1. Heat gently until everything is dissolved, then let it cool slightly.

  2. Beat the eggs and add them to the mixture.

  3. Strain through a fine sieve or muslin.

Set and serve

  1. Pour into a mould and refrigerate until firm.

  2. To unmould, dip the mould in warm water and turn it out.

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.

  1. Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together53,532 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  2. Lemon + eggtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together44,316 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

  3. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

Leaf gelatine
Sets the liquid into a firm, sliceable jelly as it cools.
Lemon juice
Provides the sharp acidity that gives the mould its bright flavour.
Lump sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the tartness of the lemon.
Eggs
Adds richness and body to the mixture.
Lemon rind
Contributes aromatic lemon oils for fragrance and flavour.

The step that matters

Heat the gelatine gently. Gelatine dissolves fully at moderate heat, but prolonged or fierce boiling can weaken its gelling power, so the mould may fail to set firmly.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits about as well
  3. Lemonthe original
  4. Datesfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar. 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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