Why it works: Sugar and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 122,807 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Boiled Icing
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
Combine sugar and cold water in a saucepan.
Boil until the mixture is clear or forms a rope when dripped.
Finish the icing
Pour the hot syrup over the stiffly beaten egg whites.
Beat the mixture until well combined and fluffy.
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 + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Granulated sugar
- Dissolves into the syrup that sets and sweetens the icing.
- Egg whites
- Whipped into a foam that gives the icing its light, airy structure.
- Cold water
- Dissolves the sugar so it can boil into a smooth syrup.
The step that matters
Pour the hot syrup over the stiffly beaten egg whites. Pouring the syrup slowly while beating keeps the hot sugar from scrambling the egg whites and lets the foam cook gently into a smooth, stable icing.
“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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