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 ↓
Snow Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the pudding
Dissolve gelatine in ½ cup boiling water with sugar and lemon rind.
Add cold water and lemon juice.
Chill and stir occasionally until beaten foamy.
Beat until foamy.
Fold in beaten egg whites until mixture begins to stiffen.
Set and serve
Turn into a moistened mold or pile lightly in a serving dish.
Serve with Custard Sauce.
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).
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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
- Gelatine
- Sets the liquid into a light, wobbly structure as it chills.
- Egg whites
- Whipped into foam, they lighten the mixture and give it a airy, fluffy texture.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the sweetness of the sugar.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and balances the tartness of the lemon.
The step that matters
Fold in beaten egg whites until mixture begins to stiffen. Egg whites hold air only while the mixture is still soft. If it is folded too late, after it has set too firm, the whites cannot blend in evenly and the pudding loses its light texture.
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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