Name: Nourishing Lemonade
Ingredients: 1 large lemon or 2 small lemons; 1 egg; 1 cup boiling water; 1 teaspoon loaf sugar; 1 tablespoon sherry wine (optional)

Why it works: Lemon and wine are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,157 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓

Nourishing Lemonade

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the lemon

Wash the lemon and cut off some of the yellow rind.

Make the lemonade

Combine the sugar, boiling water, and lemon rind in a bowl.
Cover the bowl and let the mixture cool.
Beat the egg very lightly.
Strain the beaten egg into the flavored water and lemon juice.
If desired, add the sherry wine.

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.

Lemon + winetop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together6,157 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Lemon + sherrytop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,273 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together53,532 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Lemon + eggtop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together44,316 recipes

Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together122,807 recipes

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

Lemon and sugar 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

Lemon: Provides the main citrus flavour and acidity, with rind adding aromatic oils.
Egg: Strained in to add body and a silky, slightly richer texture to the drink.
Loaf sugar: Sweetens the drink and balances the lemon's acidity.