Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Meringues
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the meringue
Whip the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
Gradually add the sugar while continuing to whip until the mixture is smooth and easy to mold.
Shape and bake
Spoon the meringue onto strips of paper in the desired shape, typically half an egg.
Sift additional sugar over the formed meringues.
Bake in a low oven at 300°F (150°C) until they are a light yellow color.
Serve
Serve with whipped cream added just before serving to prevent sogginess.
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.
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + creamtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together42,166 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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Sugar + rosetop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,584 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Egg + rosetop 28% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,840 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Egg and cream barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 42,166 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
- Egg whites
- Whipped into a foam that traps air and sets into the crisp, airy structure of the meringue.
- Sugar
- Stabilizes the whipped foam, adds sweetness, and helps the meringue dry and brown lightly in the oven.
The step that matters
Adding the sugar gradually while whipping. Sugar added slowly dissolves into the foam and stabilizes the air bubbles. Adding it all at once or too early can leave the whites loose and weepy, while under-whipping gives a meringue that collapses in the oven.
“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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