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 ↓
Jam Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Make the sauce
Combine the water, jam, lemon juice, and sugar in a small saucepan.
Heat over medium heat until the mixture is warm.
In a separate bowl, mix the cornflour with a little water to form a paste. Stir the cornflour paste into the saucepan and cook until the sauce thickens.
Serve
Serve warm.
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.
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Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 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
- Cornflour
- Thickens the sauce as it heats, giving it body when mixed into a paste first.
- Jam
- Provides the main sweetness and fruit flavour of the sauce.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the sweetness of the jam and sugar.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the tartness of the lemon juice.
The step that matters
Stir the cornflour paste into the saucepan and cook until the sauce thickens. Cornflour only thickens once the starch granules are heated to around boiling in liquid. Stop too early and the sauce stays thin; stirring constantly prevents lumps from forming.
“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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