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Dessert

Lemon Honey

A lemon custard made with egg yolks, egg whites, sugar, lemon juice, lemon rind, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,227 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Lemon Honey

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. In a bowl, stir together the egg yolks, egg whites, and sugar.

  2. Add the lemon juice and grated lemon rind, then mix in the butter.

  3. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens and becomes clear.

Chill and serve

  1. Pour into custard cups and refrigerate until set.

  2. Optionally, add a meringue topping before chilling.

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 + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,227 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  2. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together53,532 recipes

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

  5. Egg + lemontop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together44,316 recipes

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

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

Egg yolks
Thicken the custard as they cook and add richness and a yellow color.
Egg whites
Add structure and lightness to the mixture and help it set as it cooks.
Granulated sugar
Sweetens the custard and softens the tartness of the lemon.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity and bright lemon flavor that balances the sweetness.
Butter
Adds fat for a smoother, richer texture and mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Cooking over low heat while stirring constantly. Egg proteins set at moderate temperatures, so heating too fast or without stirring can scramble the eggs and leave lumps. Gentle, constant stirring lets the custard thicken evenly into a smooth, clear mixture.

Swap the lemon

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, butter. 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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