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Drink

American Lemon Squash

A chilled lemon-flavored drink made with ice, syrup, lemon juice, acid phosphate, soda water, and a lemon slice.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Syrup and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 20% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,235 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

American Lemon Squash

Ingredients

Directions

Make the squash

  1. Fill a shaker half with cracked ice or shaved ice.

  2. Add 1 ounce of plain syrup or 3 teaspoons of powdered sugar.

  3. Squeeze in the juice of one lemon.

  4. Add 2 dashes of acid phosphate.

  5. Nearly fill the shaker with soda water and mix well.

  6. Strain the mixture into a glass.

Garnish and serve

  1. Drop in a slice of lemon and squeeze a little juice from the lemon rind to enhance the flavor.

  2. Serve with straws.

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. Syrup + lemontop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,235 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Lemon juice
Provides the sharp acidity that balances the sweetness of the syrup.
Plain syrup or powdered sugar
Adds sweetness to balance the acidity of the lemon and phosphate.
Acid phosphate
Adds a tart, sharp bite that keeps the drink tasting bright.
Soda water
Adds carbonation and dilutes the drink to a refreshing, fizzy texture.

“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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