Name: Strawberries, Parisian Style
Ingredients: 1 quart strawberries; 2 lemons (juice); 1 tablespoon orange water; 1 tablespoon brandy (optional); 2 tablespoons powdered sugar

Why it works: Lemon and orange match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,634 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Strawberries, Parisian Style

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Hull the strawberries.
Add the juice of two lemons and orange water to the strawberries.
If desired, add brandy.

Chill and serve

Set the mixture on ice for 30 minutes.
Add powdered sugar and mix lightly.
Serve in dainty green glass shells.

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 + orangetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together10,634 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Orange + brandytop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,706 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together53,532 recipes

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

Smell alikelow

Cooked together11,939 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Orange + sugartop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together19,212 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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

Strawberries: Provide the main fruit, flavour and juicy texture of the dish.
Lemons: Add acidity that brightens the sweetness of the strawberries.
Powdered sugar: Adds sweetness that dissolves readily into the juices without grittiness.
Brandy: Adds a warm, aromatic note to the fruit.