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 ↓
Fannie S Lemon Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the filling
Beat the eggs with the sugar, lemon juice, and lemon peel.
Pour the mixture into a saucepan and cook for 4 minutes, stirring constantly.
Remove from heat and stir in the beaten egg white.
Bake and serve
Pour the mixture into the baked pie crust and bake for a few minutes until set.
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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Egg + lemontop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together44,316 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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Egg + sugartop 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
- Eggs
- Thicken as they cook, giving the filling its set and body.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the tartness of the lemon.
- Lemon
- Provides acidity and bright aroma from the juice and peel.
- Egg white
- Beaten to stiff peaks, it adds air and lightness to the filling.
The step that matters
Stirring constantly while cooking the egg mixture. Eggs thicken when heated, but uneven heat or sitting still on the bottom of the pan can overcook and scramble them. Constant stirring spreads heat evenly so the filling thickens smoothly.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
- Datesfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar. 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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