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Lemon Foam

A light, foamy lemon dessert made with sugar, cornstarch, and whipped egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Lemon Foam

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 ↓

Lemon Foam

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the base

  1. Combine hot water and sugar in a saucepan.

  2. Bring the mixture to a boil.

  3. Dissolve cornstarch in a little cold water.

  4. Add the dissolved cornstarch to the boiling mixture and stir rapidly.

  5. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes.

  6. Squeeze in lemon juice.

  7. Remove from heat and let cool.

Make the foam

  1. Whip egg whites to stiff peaks.

  2. Slowly pour the cooled cornstarch mixture over the whipped egg whites while whipping continuously until light and foamy.

Set

  1. Set in a cool place.

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.

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.

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

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

  2. Lemon + eggtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together44,316 recipes

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

  3. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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
Sweetens the foam and helps build a thick, syrupy base.
Cornstarch
Thickens the lemon mixture so it can hold a light, stable structure.
Egg whites
Whipped into stiff peaks, they trap air and form the foam's structure.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity and bright lemon flavor that balances the sugar.

The step that matters

Pouring the cooled cornstarch mixture into the egg whites. The cornstarch mixture must be cooled and poured slowly while whipping continuously. Warm or rapidly added liquid can deflate the whipped egg whites, so the foam loses its airy structure.

Swap the lemon

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

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