Why it works: Lemon and corn are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,927 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Lemon Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Make the lemon cream
Juice the lemon and add it to the boiling water.
Mix the corn starch with a little water and stir it into the boiling mixture.
Add the beaten egg yolks and sugar, and cook until it thickens like custard.
Finish and chill
Remove from heat and fold in the beaten egg whites.
Pour into sherbet cups and refrigerate until cold.
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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Lemon + corntop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,927 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Lemon + sugartop 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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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Corn + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together7,168 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
- Corn starch
- Thickens the lemon liquid into a smooth, custard-like texture as it heats.
- Egg yolks
- Enrich the mixture and help it thicken into a custard as they cook.
- Egg whites
- Whipped and folded in, they add a light, airy texture.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the lemon juice and balances its acidity.
- Lemon
- Provides the tart citrus flavour and acidity.
The step that matters
Cook until it thickens like custard. Starch needs to reach a boil to swell and thicken fully, and egg yolks thicken as they heat. Undercooking leaves the mixture thin, while overheating can scramble the yolks.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (corn, egg, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits about as well
- Raisinfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against corn, 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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