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 ↓
Water Ices
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the lemons and syrup
Wipe the lemons and rub some sugar on them until they are deep yellow.
In a pan, combine the water and sugar, then boil until the syrup thickens enough to form a thread between your thumb and finger.
Let the syrup cool, then add ½ pint of lemon juice.
Freeze
Pour the mixture into a freezing pot and half freeze it.
Whisk the egg whites until stiff, then mix them into the partially frozen mixture thoroughly.
Continue to freeze the mixture, scraping the sides of the freezer frequently to ensure a smooth texture.
Serve
Serve in hollowed-out ice or on small glass plates.
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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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).
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
- Dissolves into the water to make a syrup that sweetens the ice and keeps it from freezing rock hard.
- Lemons
- Supply the juice that gives the ice its sharp, sour flavour, and the rubbed peel adds colour.
- Egg whites
- Whisked to stiffness and folded in, they add airy lightness and a smoother, softer texture.
The step that matters
Scraping the sides of the freezer. Scraping breaks up ice crystals as they form along the cold walls. Frequent scraping keeps the texture fine and smooth instead of coarse and icy.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
- Datesfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, 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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